re: "Pea-brains"...?
heh heh
Any grackle asking their neighbour on the wire with them if they'd seen the other Mission Accomplished grackle is not stupid.
However their brains are still small.
I read a similiar article about tool making in crows and it never fails to amaze me how creatures large or small, male or female become masters of manipulation. Maybe it IS considered a good trait to have, sort of like a survival trait (ask Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling for example).
If so, our political leaders in Washington sure have mastered it.