When we had a Kingfisher in care, the only food he would eat was very small fish. One day we had some small fish left over and decided to give them to the gulls in our large outside aviary. In the aviary we had a number of crows, including a tame crow, ‘Frankie” who at that time was still quite young. We enjoyed watching Frankie’s antics as he learned how to ”hide” his food. He would grab a piece of food, make a hole in the ground, place the food into it, and then cover the hole with leaves. On occasions he would try hiding the food in other holes he found throughout the aviary.
Frankie likes to sit on the shoulders of the volunteers who clean the aviary and on the day in question, our volunteer, Barbara Lee, was working in the aviary, when Frankie flew on to her shoulder. She then felt something being pushed into her ear by Frankie so immediately retrieved the object. Yes, it was one of the tiny fish! Frankie had noticed Barbara Lee’s ear and decided it was a good hiding place for his food. For some reason Barbara Lee didn’t agree!