Just The Germ, Please

Here's some dried dent corn I put out to feed the birds, or the squirrels if the birds aren't fast enough.



When I looked closely I saw the fatty germ of the kernel was nibbled away and the starchy endosperm abandoned. I think the cardinals do this, and the squirrels. Not the blue jays; they'll stuff 5 or 6 whole kernels in their mouth and fly away with chipmunk cheeks! The smaller finches and wrens and black-capped chickadees and tufted titmice wait until the kernels are crushed and peck at the crumbs. I think.


Humans use diagrams; birds deduce on the fly.


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