At Exeter University’s centre of Ecology and Conservation, research led by Dr Alex Thornton is using coloured rings and Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) Tags to monitor wild jackdaws. The Cornish Jackdaw Project focuses on corvid cognition and understanding how it evolves. Cognitive processes evolve over time, allowing animals to make rational decisions within their environments. However due to drastic changes in our environment species are now facing challenges that they are not equipped to deal with causing them to make incorrect decisions. Each jackdaw will have four rings in total: two coloured rings, a metal ring and a PIT tag. The PIT tag attached to a coloured ring will be picked up by an antenna which is located on the front of nest boxes.  The coloured ring combination is unique to each jackdaw which makes it easier for them to be identified.