How Do They Know the Difference?

[Winderdear]

@Winterdear: You should read the Scientific American article. Birds don't seem to be able to tell the difference between changing keys. They hear tiny differences in timbre. So I bet they easily distinguish between different voices. This topic of research is still in its infancy, so I'd be interested in hearing about any follow-up studies.

I must have misunderstood, thanks for pointing that out! I do hope they continue their research.

 

[cundare]

I must have misunderstood, thanks for pointing that out! I do hope they continue their research.

When our first, injured "rescue rooster" wandered into our yard, escaped from a cockfighting ring, we never suspected how endlessly fascinating these birds would be. Now I can't conceive of not having chickens in the family. Learning how they see and hear the world adds yet another nuance to our understanding of the way they communicate with us so clearly.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

When our first, injured "rescue rooster" wandered into our yard, escaped from a cockfighting ring, we never suspected how endlessly fascinating these birds would be. Now I can't conceive of not having chickens in the family. Learning how they see and hear the world adds yet another nuance to our understanding of the way they communicate with us so clearly.

Thank you from rescuing an ex-cockfighting rooster, they definitely need love after the horrors they have experienced.

 

[cundare]

Cockfighting just boggles my mind. How could anybody find that to be anything other than sickening. We later rescued a second rooster that had escaped from a local fighting ring with one eye. He was in bad shape, but good food and a protected environment helped him to bounce back. It took a few months before he would crow again, but he eventually started acting like a normal bird.

The hens loved him. He had trouble flying into the big tree on our property where most of our free rangers choose to sleep. With one eye, he couldn't quite judge where the landing branch was. One hen in particular understood and she got in front of him and jumped onto the branch, then waited for him to follow. It was awesome to see. The two of them then got used to perching right next to each other on a high branch at night.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Cockfighting just boggles my mind. How could anybody find that to be anything other than sickening. We later rescued a second rooster that had escaped from a local fighting ring with one eye. He was in bad shape, but good food and a protected environment helped him to bounce back. It took a few months before he would crow again, but he eventually started acting like a normal bird.

The hens loved him. He had trouble flying into the big tree on our property where most of our free rangers choose to sleep. With one eye, he couldn't quite judge where the landing branch was. One hen in particular understood and she got in front of him and jumped onto the branch, then waited for him to follow. It was awesome to see. The two of them then got used to perching right next to each other on a high branch at night.

Is cockfighting illegal where you live? The police will bust cockfighting rings if they are against the law.

 

[cundare]

Is cockfighting illegal where you live? The police will bust cockfighting rings if they are against the law.

Yes, but it doesn't matter. Some of the ethnic groups here have claimed that it's part of their ethnic heritage and that breaking up rings is racist. In fact, that was argued in the State legislature, by an elected congressman.

Still, it is illegal and the last year, enforcement efforts have increased from non-existent to selective. What made the difference was a pair of murders that occurred during a gunfight at a cockfighting event. The police announced a "crackdown" on illegal gambling in response. I think one more ring was busted, but not much else came of it.

The biggest threat to our birds isn't mongoose or disease. It's local kids who wander around the area carrying fighting roosters, intending to use them to capture any birds that they see walking around free.

Or even in someone's yard. A few years ago, three kids hopped our fence with a fighting bird and used it to attack and distract our main rooster so that one of them could grabe our bird from behind, then pass it to the third kid waiting outside. We have it on camera, and the whole operation was well-organized, taking less than a minute. By the time we knew what was going on, they were already out of sight up the street. It was heartbreaking thinking about what our poor bird would be going through.

 

[AntiqueB]

Ethnic heritage, my posterior. If we followed "ethnic heritage" and never reflected on what we did, we'd still be drawing and quartering criminals. It's a lame excuse.

 

[cundare]

It's sickening. And the attitude around here about chickens is hostile and ignorant. There are letters in the paper calling for the execution of feral chickens, there's a (never-enforced) law against a single property owner owning more than two birds, unless the property is a farm, and the state is pushing through a law that allows people to capture chickens at will and turn them in for extermination. When I told a local guy that we were saving some of the fruit on our large tree for our hens (their favorite treat) (explaining that that was why I asked him to limit the fruit he picked on branches that extended beyond our front gate), he shook his head and acted like I was crazy. "Birds???"

 

[AntiqueB]

Where do you live? It's a place I'd like to avoid!

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Yes, but it doesn't matter. Some of the ethnic groups here have claimed that it's part of their ethnic heritage and that breaking up rings is racist. In fact, that was argued in the State legislature, by an elected congressman.

Still, it is illegal and the last year, enforcement efforts have increased from non-existent to selective. What made the difference was a pair of murders that occurred during a gunfight at a cockfighting event. The police announced a "crackdown" on illegal gambling in response. I think one more ring was busted, but not much else came of it.

The biggest threat to our birds isn't mongoose or disease. It's local kids who wander around the area carrying fighting roosters, intending to use them to capture any birds that they see walking around free.

Or even in someone's yard. A few years ago, three kids hopped our fence with a fighting bird and used it to attack and distract our main rooster so that one of them could grabe our bird from behind, then pass it to the third kid waiting outside. We have it on camera, and the whole operation was well-organized, taking less than a minute. By the time we knew what was going on, they were already out of sight up the street. It was heartbreaking thinking about what our poor bird would be going through.

It's sickening. And the attitude around here about chickens is hostile and ignorant. There are letters in the paper calling for the execution of feral chickens, there's a (never-enforced) law against a single property owner owning more than two birds, unless the property is a farm, and the state is pushing through a law that allows people to capture chickens at will and turn them in for extermination. When I told a local guy that we were saving some of the fruit on our large tree for our hens (their favorite treat) (explaining that that was why I asked him to limit the fruit he picked on branches that extended beyond our front gate), he shook his head and acted like I was crazy. "Birds???"

All of that is completely outrageous. Cockfighting is utterly wrong, and nobody should be able to speak of otherwise. You are totally right . . . sickening would be an understatement for what people do to chickens and other animals because they believe animals have lower intelligence than them. But, if you stop and take a moment to think about it, wouldn't simply trying to survive like an animal be more intelligent than using other lives to your advantage like a human?