Day 39: I have had a long-term association with birds both tame and wild, and have witnessed various degrees of intelligence in them as it is measured in human terms. Parrots' eyes leave no doubt that something greater than response-to-stimuli is going on in that feathered head, and I have personally witnessed displays of self-awareness in a cockatoo which left no doubt that he recognized both me and himself in a video, and thought it was the funniest thing he had ever seen. Many animals avoid eye contact because it is threatening, but wild birds may allow it if they are comfortable with a particular human, e.g., a chickadee assessing a person holding a handful of seed. The light of intelligent consciousness shines from many birds' eyes, although admittedly some (pigeons, for example) are blank and vapid. That said, the red eyes of a Spotted Towhee make the bird look as if it's gone completely around the bend, mad as a hatter, crazy as a bedbug. How is it, then, that another bird was given the name Nuthatch when Towhees clearly look as if they belong in a lunatic asylum?
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