TOM: Was it different days of the week? Maybe one day the birds were coming home from work, and on the weekend they're coming from a day off?

RAY: Hadn't thought of that. Bruno didn't think of it either. He couldn't explain it -- just like us-- until one day he noticed something interesting while he was out filling up the feeder.

TOM: Did it have to do with wind?

RAY: It did. He noticed that the wind was blowing, and just like when you come into a landing at an airport, the birds were doing the same thing. They were flying into the wind. If they flew in with the wind at their backs, they missed the birdfeeder altogether.

TOM: I can see it now. They come down; they trip over the end of the feeder and fall down on the ground!

RAY: Exactly. If the wind is blowing from the north they're flying in from the south. And of course on the days when it isn't windy…

TOM: It doesn't matter. Our winner is Larry Barton from Kettering, Ohio.

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]