One of the many benefits of having backyard chickens has been getting to know the wild birds that spend so much time in our elderberry, loquat, eucalyptus, and walnut trees. First, there's the fact that I spend more time in the yard. That helps in getting to know the purple finches, wrens, scrub jays, mocking birds, and towhees. Then there's the fact that -- because I spend more time in the yard -- they get to know me. I always assumed that wild birds are simply afraid of humans, that they don't distinguish between members of the household, and -- most fallaciously -- that their attitudes toward people are fixed. But it turns out they are watching, they are thinking, and sometimes they make mistakes.