I interpret it differently, Tollie. (Since I am not anthropomorphizing it.) To me it looks as if the pigeon is trying to pick apart the ring for some delicious treat inside (smells, maybe?) and the best place to do that is on what the bird thinks is a flat surface at the top of the roof. And the bird keeps sliding down.

So I vote no play.

With the simple act of using twigs to poke a rubber spider, New Caledonian crows may have become the first birds to join an exclusive cognitive class.

Using tools in multiple ways, and not just to get food, was once considered a singularly human ability. Then chimpanzees, other primates and elephants proved able. But if flexible tool use wasn’t uniquely human, it did seem limited to mammals.

“There is no species of bird that has been recorded using tools for more than one function,” said zoologist Joanna Wimpenny of the University of Sheffield.

The new findings, published in December in Animal Cognition, are still preliminary, but “we really think they suggest very strongly that they’re using tools for a different function,” she said.

I have seen crows and ravens do a lot of this that seem to be for the pure joy of it. One day, there was one who had a small stick that he flew up, dropped and swooped to catch. He did this over and over. I have seen groups of them do similar things.

Name a country whose name begins with a U.

Urope!

News that a Supreme Court justice appeared on a TV show would normally make me cringe. But I think this appearance by Justice Sotomayor on Sesame Street is really terrific. Kudos to Justice Sotomayor for being a good sport about it.

Putting aside the lack of a federal question, it seems a tad unfair to ignore the trespass before pressuring the parties to settle in way so favorable to the trespasser. But I suppose it’s nicer to hear the case than just deny cert as factbound and splitless. Hat tip: How Appealing.