h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was looking out from my front garden yesterday to the stand of trees opposite that borders the golf course, when I saw one of these running up the trunk of an oak:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/g/greatspottedwoodpecker/index.asp

It didn't hang about for long, but it was the first time I have ever seen a woodpecker: I've heard them before on numerous occasions. And my daughter got to see it too.

Birds are brilliant things.

Strangely I've seen a green woodpecker perched on the kerb twice this weekend - same spot both times.

Didn't move as I drove by barely 6 feet away.

Where do you live, then?

We get a green woodpecker in the garden sometimes. It knows where the ants have their nests in the earth and it pecks there - I think it must be after their eggs.
One time there were some ants running about on the window ledge an d some wasps came and carried them off.
We get some spotted woodpeckers also but the stay in the trees.
Also we have two 'pet' crows who come in the garden 2 or 3 times a day - they don't like squirrels whom they suspect of raiding their secret food stash. I even seen the crows dig holes and bury stuff and then replace divots and then over the divot place a piece of moss or some leaves for camouflage. Crows are amazingly intelligent.
One time I saw a crow knock a falcon clean out of the sky. He hit him side on. He knew that was the best tactic.
Yes, nature is amazing, and we're part of nature too. Nature is much more amazing than that other nonsense, currently very fashionable (R word) in my humble opinion.

The woodpecker was on the business park where I work - next to the NEC.

I start at 07:30 in the morning, so the place is quiet, and its prety rural still here - fields all round the site because of the cost of drainng it all.

We used to get deer wandering across the carpark when we first moved in, but the NEC expansion has stopped that. We still get a lot of birdlife though.

I got a pair of miniature binoculars for my birthday yesterday. We have jays opposite, although they tend to be quite shy and solitary.

Members of the crow family are *incredibly* intelligent. What about that bird that, when given a straight piece of wire and a morsel in the bottom of a test tube, fashioned it into a hook to get the morsel out?

Yesterday evening I was in the city when I saw a crow on a grass verge outside a theater and quite near to a monument. He was eating a biscuit as crowds walked by only a yard or so away from him. He ate the biscuit very delicately - picking off a small piece at a time - and then when he had eaten half of it he walked over to the monument and stuffed the biscuit into a crack in the base - he then pulled some grass from the verge and carefully placed it over the crack where the biscuit was stored. He then hopped onto a small wall nearby and concealed himself in a bush - a good vantage point from where he could observe his hoard. It pays to stop and spend 5 minutes watching birds and animals when you have the opportunity. You must wonder how this crow, with his walnut-size brain, can fly and free-fall acrobatically in high winds (they enjoy doing this) and do all the other tasks that crows do - like building nests, chasing away predators, playing tricks on squirrels (by pretending to hide things when they know a squirrel is watching), poking things with sticks, etc., etc.

I read a wonderful SciAm article a month or two back where the authors investigated the intelligence of ravens. They reckon that they are on a par at least with the great apes and dolphins, and possibly second only to humans.

It's not the size of the brain: it's the ratio of the weight of the brain to the spinal cord that counts.

Yes, the intelligence of this family of birds is quite remarkable. I recall now that I was visiting an animal wild life park / sanctuary type establishment a couple of years ago and I saw there a blackbird that couldn't fly because it only had one wing - somebody had brought it in when it had been in an accident of some sort - and it had made itself quite at home so to speak - it was just like a friendly dog, came when called, followed it's new owner(s) around, went in and out of the house at will, stole food from the kitchen, and like nothing better than to go for a walk the owner said - or on a warm day, like when I was there, just to sit and watch the world go by and of course show-off to visitors!

Dogs are apparently as intelligent as toddlers. Sorry, didn't know anything about birds to add to the conversation!

I think some whales and birds must be pretty intelligent since they can get around the world without the beneift of a map whereas many people can't seem to find their way pastir cars.

oops - I mean many people even need gps in their cars to get to the next town.

Some of the humans I have to deal with have spinal cords that weigh more than their brains. In fact, I'm amazed that their brains generate enough power to allow them to keep their legs moving. If you transplanted them into a crow, it would probably fly backwards.

Some alarming hushed-up news sneaked out yesterday on N-TV - it seems that at least 17 whales and dolphins have recently died from a "mysterious virus" in Mediterranean Sea near the coast of Spain. Would I wan to go for a swim there? Don't think so.

I did read that apparently some human virus has started infecting seals in the North Sea. I wonder if it's the same virus?

170,000 chickens were culled last week in Bavaria as 5 of their number had bird-flu.

Unfortunately our daily national newspaper and radio/tv news bulletins in next-door Austria kind of 'forgot' to mention anything about it. I think I eventually picked-up the story on N-TV.

I find it's very often not what is in the news that's interesting - it's more of a case that what is NOT in the news that is the most interesting.