I remember a related story, possibly an urban myth but you never know ...

A man was annoyed by the noise his local football team made when they played
on the field outside his house on Sunday mornings. So for a couple of weeks
before the start of the season, he went out every day, stood in the middle
of the pitch, blew a whistle and scattered birdfood around. Come the start
of the season, both teams get out on the pitch, the ref blows his whistle to
start the game and they immediately have to abandon it because all the birds
fly down to look for the food.

:-))

--
Martin & Anna Sykes
( Remove x's when replying )
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~sykesm

"JennyC" wrote in message
...
Hi

This is vaguely OT but I was wondering how birds almost immediately know
when I
start to put food out for them?

I don't feed in the summer, but as soon as I put any crumbs out the birds
seem
to whiz down in three minutes flat to feed. Their mates seem to hear about
it
too and before long the garden is humming!

The feeder is hanging in a sumac tree so they don't come to it much in
summer as
it has no fruits or berries. It's can't be that they see me go near the
tree, as
I tend the plants around its base all year long........

Do they have amazing eyesight - a terrific sense of smell - do the know
what
time of year I start to feed - or what ??

Jenny