Please help a New Yorker

[whatbrownwhat]

About twenty years ago,in NYC,watching late night TV and probably smoking..ah...something,I saw a documentary done in England ,and it might have been produced by the BBC.It's subjects were crows,jays and the blue tit being studied,investigated and tested for their learning and group intelligence or some such.The black crows,if I remember,passed all sorts of solve-the-puzzle-to-get-the-treat bedevilment and the tit had its gumption challenged,waiting first thing for the morning milkman so as to peck through the tin foil bottle caps for the cream underneath(who knew?)only to have solid wood,faked-up caps subtituted AND the delivery time changed to all different hours,(the poor wee things),all very scientific,serious and,from over here,funny as hell.For the blue jays,I think,the question to be answered was-Is it the sight or smell or movement or the shape of the cat that warns the birds? I remember this,the "shape" test,the last thing,before I dropped to the floor in final hysterics-the researchers mounted a two dimensional cut out,shaped like Puss-wuss,on a low cart set on tracks through the grass and they were hunched behind,inching this project slowly closer to the birds, like sappers on Normandy Beach,with hushed play-by-play commentary driving the excitement only higher.
Thanks to the Internet I can at least hope to track this gem down.Does anyone over there remember it? Thank you.

[big bill]

hello and welcome to the site never seen the programm that you are on about but do remember the birds pecking at the top of the milk bottles to get the cream us as kids thought it was funny but our parents didnt

[ron1863]

Hi and welcome to WAB. Like Big Bill, I too remember the tits pecking the tops off the milk bottles to get to the cream. My mother used to leave plastic caps for the milkman to place on top of the bottles but the tits learned to take them off.

Don't remember the programme though.

[coasty]

Hi Bill and welcome,,,

Thats Nowt

When I were a lad the area were so tough the blue tits used to line up and mug the milk man before he even had chance to deliver it,,,

Which was harder than you think coss we lived in a cardboard box in the middle of the road,,,,,,,,

[Kayleigh]

Hi wbw, I vaguely remember something around the 70s - 80s called birdbrain of Britain. Where they set up lots of experiments to find the cleverest birds. I think the crow family won by far.

[seamusagleann]

Originally Posted by coasty

Hi Bill and welcome,,,

Thats Nowt

When I were a lad the area were so tough the blue tits used to line up and mug the milk man before he even had chance to deliver it,,,

Which was harder than you think coss we lived in a cardboard box in the middle of the road,,,,,,,,

lucky you 'ad cardboard box!!!!...could go on all night !!...but i won't!!

[Geoff F]

Yes I vaguelyly remember the programme. Eventually the birds worked out that the cat on wheels wasn't a threat and ignored it. Much the same as the crows in my garden ignore me when there is food on the birdtable.

Did you know that long ago the British Navy used crows as direction finders. A number of them were kept in cages and when one was released, from the 'crows nest' it would always fly towards the nearest land. Never heard of any tests being done recently to check out the story but it is supposed to be true. Hence the saying 'as the crow flies'.

[coasty]

Originally Posted by seamusagleann

lucky you 'ad cardboard box!!!!...could go on all night !!...but i won't!!

Shame i was hoping someone would