Sacha wrote:
On 17/12/05 15:51, in article
, "Richard Brooks"
wrote:

snip

I'm planning on making a minature diving board next spring to go with
the bird pool!


We've sort of got one and it's a source of enormous amusement to us and tea
room customers and of great use to the birds. It's a granite trough and Ray
has rigged it up with a pump and a very much smaller trough inside. The
large trough is filled with water and a few pebbles and the smaller is also
filled with water and has a couple of pebbles for the birds to stand on.
From the pebbles, they can 'dive' into the small trough. This they do,
splashing and frolicking and fluffing out feathers and sending great sprays
of water in all directions. Sometimes, they are literally queuing up for
their bathroom and small squabbles break out about whose turn it is next.
I'd love to think that humans get as much pleasure from their baths as our
birds do but I do draw the line at drinking the bathwater, as they do!

I'm surprised the news item only made a few channels some years back but
does anyoen remember the Japanese kids who would play on a park slide,
the proceedings being watched by (I think) a Raven.

They'd then have to get to school and the Raven would fly to the top of
the slide, slide to the bottom then fly to the top again repeatedly.

Who says birds aren't like people! ;-)


Richard.