[Jan Fisher]

There is an ‘arms race’ going on in suburbia that has nothing to do with automatic weapons, at least not yet.
Instead it appears birds are evolving to outsmart our attempts to keep them out of our bins in what scientists are describing as an ‘interspecies innovation arms race’.
A study has found cockatoos in Sydney learnt how to open rubbish bins but have also transferred that knowledge among their populations.
First they learnt how to open the bins, and then when residents tried to foil their raids with bricks on top of the bin, they started pushing them off. It was behaviour first noticed in only three suburbs in 2018, but had spread to 44 suburbs by 2019. Freaky.
Apparently they still can’t overcome a stick in the hinge, but give them time.
Do you have problems keeping birds out of your bins? What do you do?

[Taragosun]

Yes they did raid the rubbish bins when we lived in suburbia.
Now we live in the country and the Maggies wait each day for me to take our vege/fruit scraps etc. up to the open compost bin. I tap the empty container on the bin to make sure everything is out and within a few minutes the Maggies are in the bin checking out what has been put in it. I’m happy for them to have a feed.

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