That makes me believe these kinds of birds will absolutely knowingly put fish in a pond as a means of future food source.
Just my opinion....
This is very plausible. The intelligence of other species is not well understood even today. But the observations mentioned can certainly be inferred as such. Dono's observation must have been a thrill to see. It is truly difficult to argue that the Kingfisher wasn't aware of what it was doing. I would say it takes more faith to propose that the behavior is purely instinctual than it does to infer the observation for what it apparently is.
