SCENES FROM THE BEACH | by George Thatcher / APRIL 10, 2016

Increasing numbers of pigeons visit our beach daily. The reason for their visits is not for food but for grains of sand. You see, pigeons require roughage in their diet, ingesting sand to aid digestion. Their presence here is ignored by shorebirds. Although humans may not like pigeons, they are very intelligent birds. Scientists find pigeons differentiate between the paintings of Van Gogh and Chagall. In their selection, pigeons performed nearly as well as a group of college students, according to "Intelligence in Nature" by Jeremy Narby. -- Diary, spring 2016

From the diary of beach walker George Thatcher / Email: fishcrow@aol.com

Collections of Mr. Thatcher's observations are available from Quail Ridge Press (www.quailridge.com or 1-800-343-1583).

This story was originally published April 9, 2016 at 6:46 PM with the headline "SCENES FROM THE BEACH | by George Thatcher / APRIL 10, 2016 ."