Grackles are amazing. This is aqua purple standing on top of a tower waiting for me to set up the test so he can do a bunch of trials in his reversal learning task

I trained them to come to the towers and wait for me when they are ready to be tested. Sometimes it takes me 5 minutes to set up the test and they just stand there waiting

What I love is that they tell me when they want to do tests and we both understand what the other wants. These are wild birds who willingly (and eagerly!) participate in behavioral choice tests, even when they get frustrated when the rules change (that is part of the test)

#TheGrackleProject #ManyIndividuals

I started Aqua Purple’s behavioral observations a few weeks ago and it has been difficult to follow him for long periods of time.

Why? He is a magician! One second, I see him under a car in the parking lot. The next second, he has vanished 🪄 into thin air. I search 🔍 for several minutes, but usually can’t refind him. Where did he go? 👀

When I am able to keep him in sight, he is quite the buffet bird - he goes back and forth through the parking lots finding food along the way.

When he finds a piece of food, he likes to eat lots of it before moving on.

And he is big on napping 💤 - loves his naps under cars 🚗 or in a palm 🌴
#TheGrackleProject #ManyIndividuals

9 months after I last saw him, great-tailed grackle, Aqua Aqua remembered me! When I returned a couple of weeks ago and he first saw me, he came close, stared at me, and was probably waiting for something interesting to happen (like a test or something).

❓ Grackle #memory is something we have wondered about on #TheGrackleProject. Do the individuals we work with remember us? If so, for how long?

We know that grackles can recognize individual humans because when we used to do tests in aviaries with them, sometimes a grackle would only work with one of us (or sometimes only one gender, which can be tricky on a team with mostly women!).

But after we released them to the wild, they didn’t treat us differently from other humans. It wasn’t clear whether they just didn’t care, or didn’t recognize us. I think Aqua Aqua has answered this question! ✅

#ManyIndividuals

#TheGrackleProject is winding down our 2024 #ManyIndividuals field season and wow has it been amazing! The grackles here eagerly participate in the research, which makes it really exciting.

A huge thank you to our field site hosts!
- The Santa Barbara Zoo https://www.sbzoo.org/

- The City of Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation and Waterfront https://sbparksandrec.santabarbaraca.gov/

- And I am in the process of making connections with the Chumash. The land on which I conduct this research is unceded Chumash land. I want to bring awareness to their efforts to reconnect with their land. I will mention a couple of efforts here, but I am still learning, so expect more on this front (including a Land Acknowledgement). Specifically...
- The SPACE is an amazing organization that is bringing communities together https://www.sunan-the-space.org/
- I attended a Decolonized Native Art show, which was gorgeous, powerful, and eye opening https://www.facebook.com/people/Decolonized-Native-Art/61561223067309/?_rdr

After 9 years of studying them, these grackles continue to amaze me!

This field season is the first where we implemented the comparative cognition experiments in the wild instead of in aviaries. I was worried that they wouldn't participate even when they were frustrated with the test (suddenly changing the food from the preferred color feeder to the other color feeder is an annoying thing to do to someone).

Not only do they participate as much as, or more than, the grackles in the aviaries, they do all of this in the middle of public spaces where people/cars/dogs walk right by the feeders. WOW! I am so impressed by these birds! Thank you grackles for playing games with me!

#TheGrackleProject #ManyIndividuals

ALT: Orange made the correct choice (dark gray feeder), eats crackers from the tray, goes to the water cup between the feeders and drinks water. He chooses the dark gray feeder, I press the remote (“boing” sound), food comes out, I record his choice, and he eats from the tray

What does a grackle eat for lunch?

Aqua goes buffet style up and down the beach where he hits up the picnic area, the outdoor cafe, the seaweed on the beach, and the parking lots. Last week, he ate insects, worms, grass, mashed potatoes, a banana, a tortilla, and Mannerschnitten.

Orange is a home body and sticks to his parking lot and cafe where he enjoys Splenda and clams.

Silver is a people lover and hangs out ON people's picnic tables while they are eating (he snatched a big piece of lobster and lunch meat), as well as making the rounds to all of the people in the parking lot who throw food to the birds.

#TheGrackleProject #ManyIndividuals

ALT: I am voice recording Aqua's foraging behavior at the beach using binoculars until he lands near me