What could I have done better in this game?

[kostinen]

Thanks for the review!

I think I did consider to draw the Wren but I estimated it was too costly since :
- I had no guarantee to have the food to play it
- I had to lose one egg

This path is more reliable than the "draw" path I choosed because I have 100% chance to be settled up on turn 5/6. But I think I have more chances to draw something way better in the other path. More risky (and we saw why) but better in average, in my opinion.
Now, is it better to play a bad start to reach a "safe" zone on turn 5/6 with 100% chance? Or make a bet with an 80% chance of a better start, and 20% to be completely at a loss ? Difficult choice.

On turn 8 I'm not sure if not discarding a card (Whie Pelican) for another Seed was the right call. I guess you were saving up for Brewer's even then.

Well, every card was for me "for the Brewer" at this step, and I didn't see any food I want right now in the birdfeeder. But yeah maybe to keep it for the Brewer (that I need to play before to give him some card to tuck as you pointed out )

That said, I don't think the tuck and draw for Osprey was that good at the time you chose to do it. I'd have just gained food instead, accepting having 1 less egg in exchange for 2 more food and an empty card instead of Osprey

Yeah, well a this step I wanted to just wait for better forest turn, with the food I needed. This grassland turn was just something I had to do now or later, I just decided to do it now, hoping my opponent will leave me with a better food choice. I needed two eggs to play the next forest bird. Probably way better to gain food as you mentionned, and another time after that. With my Swallow, I would have probably the opportunity to spend my extra food for the right bird (or just play Gnat with two foods as you also said)

Black Neck was a better card than you gave it credit for in game, if you were truly that desperate to keep all of your other cards you should have done a 2 for 1 food trade and played Black Next instead of Swan. Black Bird should not have been tucked, it would have been better not to Brewer's that turn than to get rid of Black Bird. Black Bird fitting your bonus and Brewer plans was rather helpful, as you pointed out.

Yeah, I should have been more convinced about my early idea. This bird was matching very well with goal, bonus and Brewer. This also would have gave me two new cards that could save my game... I was desperate about the invertebrate shortage and probably did the wrong choice.

[Ceaseless]

I think I did consider to draw the Wren but I estimated it was too costly since :
- I had no guarantee to have the food to play it
- I had to lose one egg

This path is more reliable than the "draw" path I choosed because I have 100% chance to be settled up on turn 5/6. But I think I have more chances to draw something way better in the other path. More risky (and we saw why) but better in average, in my opinion.
Now, is it better to play a bad start to reach a "safe" zone on turn 5/6 with 100% chance? Or make a bet with an 80% chance of a better start, and 20% to be completely at a loss ? Difficult choice.

Even with the draw path, I'm saying Wren should have been taken to support your future forest birds. Getting that 1 Invertebrate for Wren shouldn't be that big of an issue.

That said, I don't think the tuck and draw for Osprey was that good at the time you chose to do it. I'd have just gained food instead, accepting having 1 less egg in exchange for 2 more food and an empty card instead of Osprey

Yeah, well a this step I wanted to just wait for better forest turn, with the food I needed. This grassland turn was just something I had to do now or later, I just decided to do it now, hoping my opponent will leave me with a better food choice. I needed two eggs to play the next forest bird. Probably way better to gain food as you mentionned, and another time after that. With my Swallow, I would have probably the opportunity to spend my extra food for the right bird (or just play Gnat with two foods as you also said)

I take it you meant with your follow-up sentence that the Grassland play wasn't something you had to do now or later after all. Since your forest gets the eggs anyways, the only thing the Grassland did was speed up the egg filling by 1 egg, which means you could make the egg filling last from 2 turns in the forest to 1 turn in the Grassland. The problem being that it still would take 2 turns total to get there because after 1 turn laying 1 egg, you still had to spend another turn gaining food anyways, so spending 2 turns to gain food instead doesn't change the pacing at all.

[Florrible]

All in all, that was just a frustrating game start to finish. Opponent gets high bonus on two cards that are usually difficult to meet. One dice roll after another that had fish and cherries when I needed rats and worms. Etc.

There was a game I played recently which felt frustrating because the food in the birdfeeder never matched with the food I needed for the cards in my hand and I can't remember if it was this one. I started watching the replay to see if this was the game where I'd had food issues and I ended up looking at the entire replay and trying to figure out at which point I blew all my chances, because we were actually tied for most of it and my opponent only really gained the upper hand towards the end of round 3.

https://boardgamearena.com/archive/repl ... s=86562928;

I did so much to win the EOR bonus in round 1 only to make a mistake with it and get pushed back to second place. This kind of ties in with my other post about stupid mistakes and misclicks that have ruined my chances in previous games. I just flat out forgot in turn 8/8 to top up my eggs on the Ruddy Duck and got food instead because I was getting ready to play the Yellow-headed Blackbird in round 2 (which I didn't end up doing).

In round 2 my opponent took Western Meadowlark on their first turn which I missed out on as I was second player.

Round 2 bonus was always going to be mine as opponent only had 2 egg space in Wetland.

By mid-round 2 I was desperate for extra birds in forest but was drawing rubbish cards, the Black Vulture that I'd kept from my opening hand as it worked towards the bonus goal, wasn't really helpful as my opponent didn't have any cards with hunting power, so it was between Mississippi Kite (only 1 food but rubbish egg space) and Common Grackle (didn't help towards any bonus/EOR goals but had a tucking power)

We started round 3 exactly tied. Round 3 for me was about getting an extra ground nest bird on my board, to at the very least tie on the EOR goal so I grabbed one and also a star nest. However by the end of it my opponent had a grassland row that allowed them to also get 2 food per play so the forest was no longer needed for them. On the other hand I got American Redstart so late in the game and while it allowed me to win the EOR goal for round 4 and also meet the minimum required for my bonus card.

At the end of the day looking at the scorecard my opponent had a lot more high value birds than me as we actually tied on bonus cards and I was even ahead on EOR goals but they seemed to have better birds and more eggs.

[kostinen]

I think I did consider to draw the Wren but I estimated it was too costly since :
- I had no guarantee to have the food to play it
- I had to lose one egg

This path is more reliable than the "draw" path I choosed because I have 100% chance to be settled up on turn 5/6. But I think I have more chances to draw something way better in the other path. More risky (and we saw why) but better in average, in my opinion.
Now, is it better to play a bad start to reach a "safe" zone on turn 5/6 with 100% chance? Or make a bet with an 80% chance of a better start, and 20% to be completely at a loss ? Difficult choice.

Even with the draw path, I'm saying Wren should have been taken to support your future forest birds. Getting that 1 Invertebrate for Wren shouldn't be that big of an issue.

I can understand the benefit of this move. At this step I was really concerned about a second forest bird or any bird with ability to gain food. So draw a card for my middle/late game was not my priority since I already decided that the bird I needed for my actual issue was not the Wren since it cost two foods (or one card + one food) without activating the ability of playing a second bird
I also had an eye on the Swainson's Hawk (good for my bonus card and second objective, and lot of points...), but as I said, I think it was very important to find something to gain more food to move forward in this game.
But maybe my concern about food was not that much justified, or an invertebrate could have been appear in the birdfeeder in the late first round. Having the wren in hand could save me one turn. I don't know about this ^^

That said, I don't think the tuck and draw for Osprey was that good at the time you chose to do it. I'd have just gained food instead, accepting having 1 less egg in exchange for 2 more food and an empty card instead of Osprey

Yeah, well a this step I wanted to just wait for better forest turn, with the food I needed. This grassland turn was just something I had to do now or later, I just decided to do it now, hoping my opponent will leave me with a better food choice. I needed two eggs to play the next forest bird. Probably way better to gain food as you mentionned, and another time after that. With my Swallow, I would have probably the opportunity to spend my extra food for the right bird (or just play Gnat with two foods as you also said)

I take it you meant with your follow-up sentence that the Grassland play wasn't something you had to do now or later after all. Since your forest gets the eggs anyways, the only thing the Grassland did was speed up the egg filling by 1 egg, which means you could make the egg filling last from 2 turns in the forest to 1 turn in the Grassland. The problem being that it still would take 2 turns total to get there because after 1 turn laying 1 egg, you still had to spend another turn gaining food anyways, so spending 2 turns to gain food instead doesn't change the pacing at all.

Yes, you are perfectly right. I guess, during the game, my thinking was "I need more two eggs than useless foods + 1 egg" but the math was obviously awful.


Another game, another lose.
https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=685220640
I think I had a good start, but didn't achieve to convert it into a good game. I'm beginning to think I lost all my abilities at this game ^^

[kostinen]

All in all, that was just a frustrating game start to finish. Opponent gets high bonus on two cards that are usually difficult to meet. One dice roll after another that had fish and cherries when I needed rats and worms. Etc.

There was a game I played recently which felt frustrating because the food in the birdfeeder never matched with the food I needed for the cards in my hand and I can't remember if it was this one. I started watching the replay to see if this was the game where I'd had food issues and I ended up looking at the entire replay and trying to figure out at which point I blew all my chances, because we were actually tied for most of it and my opponent only really gained the upper hand towards the end of round 3.

https://boardgamearena.com/archive/repl ... s=86562928;

I did so much to win the EOR bonus in round 1 only to make a mistake with it and get pushed back to second place. This kind of ties in with my other post about stupid mistakes and misclicks that have ruined my chances in previous games. I just flat out forgot in turn 8/8 to top up my eggs on the Ruddy Duck and got food instead because I was getting ready to play the Yellow-headed Blackbird in round 2 (which I didn't end up doing).

In round 2 my opponent took Western Meadowlark on their first turn which I missed out on as I was second player.

Round 2 bonus was always going to be mine as opponent only had 2 egg space in Wetland.

By mid-round 2 I was desperate for extra birds in forest but was drawing rubbish cards, the Black Vulture that I'd kept from my opening hand as it worked towards the bonus goal, wasn't really helpful as my opponent didn't have any cards with hunting power, so it was between Mississippi Kite (only 1 food but rubbish egg space) and Common Grackle (didn't help towards any bonus/EOR goals but had a tucking power)

We started round 3 exactly tied. Round 3 for me was about getting an extra ground nest bird on my board, to at the very least tie on the EOR goal so I grabbed one and also a star nest. However by the end of it my opponent had a grassland row that allowed them to also get 2 food per play so the forest was no longer needed for them. On the other hand I got American Redstart so late in the game and while it allowed me to win the EOR goal for round 4 and also meet the minimum required for my bonus card.

At the end of the day looking at the scorecard my opponent had a lot more high value birds than me as we actually tied on bonus cards and I was even ahead on EOR goals but they seemed to have better birds and more eggs.

About the turn 0 : I think in this game I would have also kept the Hummingbird. Giving you the opportunity to gain food when you need it all along the game. Good also for your bonus card.
First turn Hummingbird. Then I lay eggs and gain the cherry to play the forest birds on turn 3. I gain food on turn 4 and play Ruddy Duck on turn 5. I would maybe take the sparrow early on, especially if the food I need for the duck is not already in the birdfeeder. With a second grassland bird, you have something very solid for the rest of the game to gain food, cards and eggs. In the turn 7 I could play the Sparrow (with low probability) + lay eggs on turn 8, if not just draw cards without paying too much attention about the EOR goal, especially if there are good birds to take.

I look now what happenned next in the game. I think you have to take the american crow on turn 3. It's a very very powerful bird that almost give you the opportunity to not paying too much attention on developping the forest.

I didn't go further but that's what I could say about the early game

[Ceaseless]

All in all, that was just a frustrating game start to finish. Opponent gets high bonus on two cards that are usually difficult to meet. One dice roll after another that had fish and cherries when I needed rats and worms. Etc.

There was a game I played recently which felt frustrating because the food in the birdfeeder never matched with the food I needed for the cards in my hand and I can't remember if it was this one. I started watching the replay to see if this was the game where I'd had food issues and I ended up looking at the entire replay and trying to figure out at which point I blew all my chances, because we were actually tied for most of it and my opponent only really gained the upper hand towards the end of round 3.

https://boardgamearena.com/archive/repl ... s=86562928;

I did so much to win the EOR bonus in round 1 only to make a mistake with it and get pushed back to second place. This kind of ties in with my other post about stupid mistakes and misclicks that have ruined my chances in previous games. I just flat out forgot in turn 8/8 to top up my eggs on the Ruddy Duck and got food instead because I was getting ready to play the Yellow-headed Blackbird in round 2 (which I didn't end up doing).

In round 2 my opponent took Western Meadowlark on their first turn which I missed out on as I was second player.

Round 2 bonus was always going to be mine as opponent only had 2 egg space in Wetland.

By mid-round 2 I was desperate for extra birds in forest but was drawing rubbish cards, the Black Vulture that I'd kept from my opening hand as it worked towards the bonus goal, wasn't really helpful as my opponent didn't have any cards with hunting power, so it was between Mississippi Kite (only 1 food but rubbish egg space) and Common Grackle (didn't help towards any bonus/EOR goals but had a tucking power)

We started round 3 exactly tied. Round 3 for me was about getting an extra ground nest bird on my board, to at the very least tie on the EOR goal so I grabbed one and also a star nest. However by the end of it my opponent had a grassland row that allowed them to also get 2 food per play so the forest was no longer needed for them. On the other hand I got American Redstart so late in the game and while it allowed me to win the EOR goal for round 4 and also meet the minimum required for my bonus card.

At the end of the day looking at the scorecard my opponent had a lot more high value birds than me as we actually tied on bonus cards and I was even ahead on EOR goals but they seemed to have better birds and more eggs.

There's a viable opening in keeping all but Black Neck, with the plan of playing Black Chinned Hummingbird, laying eggs and activating its effect, using the Fruit gained to play Red-Eyes Vireo and Black Vulture, and now easily being in a position to gain the food to play Ruddy Duck. Photographer would have 3 birds met, making it an easy choice of bonus.

You had way more going for you than you think.

Grasshopper Sparrow was probably not worth grabbing on the first draw, though it's not so bad I'd really call it a mistake, I just don't think it was ideal. You got hit really hard for it when Mourning Dove, a must draw, came up next. American Crow was also a must draw, and you should have taken it right away, using it and Ruddy Duck as a foundation to set yourself up, and landing Vireo/Vulture later, since they still help with bonuses, end of round goals, and having more egg space and an alternative food plan if you needed to push for it.

Discarding Brown Headed Cowbird move 19 was a mistake. The card meets your bonus and keeps back your opponent's Grassland, which is very useful when they have an American Crow and with so many egg based end of round goals. While you had only 1 food, you should have played Vireo and Turkey Vulture. You could have gained 2 food instead of 1 that way before playing Towhee later on.

Move 21 laying eggs makes no sense, as you still had Grassland birds you intended to play and the end of round goal was still some time away, so there was no reason not to play them before laying the eggs. I'm not sure why you were complaining about drawing rubbish when some of those cards were picked by you, such as some of those wetland birds. I'm unsure why you didn't get a fourth Grassland bird to strengthen egg laying. A lot of your late game calls were confusing to me.

Overall, this was a game where you had way more development chances than you ended up using, and you probably should have gotten full points for your bonus on top of that.

Another game, another lose.
https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=685220640
I think I had a good start, but didn't achieve to convert it into a good game. I'm beginning to think I lost all my abilities at this game ^^

Common Nighthawk is not a beloved card, and your opponent has no Invertebrate, I don't see them blind drawing it. The first move goes to Blue Jay using Seed + Fruit and the second goes to grabbing Invertebrate and Seed. Using Seed to play Mallard. If you're really intent on saving your first Grassland play for after playing Nighthawk, you can still get Mallard's effect in the wetland for the draw. If your opponent is really sharp they might figure out the Nighthawk angle, but I imagine you'll get away with it. Even if they are sharp, there's no way I see them figuring it out until they see Mallard and know all of your cards, even if you draw Nighthawk before playing Mallard to avoid such a possibility, I'd still aim to play Blue Jay and gain the food first to avoid them disrupting you like they did in the game, likely by accident while aiming for their own goals. On your second to last turn I'd have moved to the forest to blind gain food, then moved to the wetland for round 2, allowing the cards to filter first to dig deeper for what you'd want. The blind food is more likely to be useful than the blind draws. You ended up drawing subpar cards you could have avoided upon seeing them in the tray, aside from the decent Hummingbird, which you could have chosen if you wanted it.

Move 57, I don't understand why you don't play Hummingbird for forest bird #3, allowing Nighthawk to serve as forest bird 4 for the 3 food outlet. When you later played House Finch and Common Grackle back-to-back you got the order backwards. Grackle should be played first, allowing House Finch the tuck and draw and chance for Grackle to tuck the card Finch drew.

At the end I'm not sure why you moved Nighthawk to the Wetland when you did. You could have played Heron first, removing an egg from Common Grackle. You also had a Warbler you could play in the wetland. In addition to the egg you'd get back for Grackle, it would have cost 1 less egg to play a wetland bid this way. The way you locked in Nighthawk prevented you from using its slot as the fifth Grassland bird to burn extra food for eggs.

[FrankJones]

With the power 5 removed, I would say the American Crow is one of the best remaining cards in the game. I haven't had it since ... ever, on this site.
A Hummingbird can be great also, skip or use the power as needed, skipping it when your opponent would benefit more, and use it when the opposite is true. I cannot even get the spotted Towhee. I would love to have any bird in the grassland that gets me food.

What I am realizing more and more, as I continue to play the base game that I had long forgotten about, is, I don't do the draw cards action nearly as often as I thought, which is exactly what Ceaseless is trying to get through to all of us in this thread. There just isn't enough mechanism to convert extra cards into anything useful; we cannot just keep drawing cards hoping for perfect cards. The 4th spot on the Oceania board allows the conversion of 2 cards into eggs. Not so on the base board. Extra cards? You're stuck. No eagles, no board actions that allow conversion. Maybe we get lucky and get a high capacity Tuck and egg like the Bushtit.

Along similar lines: Much of Ceaseless's advice is along the lines of "You could have done well with the cards you had". And I agree. 2-player without expansions and the base board, we can't be too fussy about our birds. A 4-point forest bird that costs one food? Play it, even if the ability is mediocre. I've been spoiled by EE and Oceania and nectar, And having a wetland worth 4-6 points that allows me to draw cards over and over, saving the good ones to play in the grassland and forest.

[kostinen]

Thank Ceaseless for your review !

Common Nighthawk is not a beloved card, and your opponent has no Invertebrate, I don't see them blind drawing it. The first move goes to Blue Jay using Seed + Fruit and the second goes to grabbing Invertebrate and Seed. Using Seed to play Mallard. If you're really intent on saving your first Grassland play for after playing Nighthawk, you can still get Mallard's effect in the wetland for the draw. If your opponent is really sharp they might figure out the Nighthawk angle, but I imagine you'll get away with it. Even if they are sharp, there's no way I see them figuring it out until they see Mallard and know all of your cards, even if you draw Nighthawk before playing Mallard to avoid such a possibility, I'd still aim to play Blue Jay and gain the food first to avoid them disrupting you like they did in the game, likely by accident while aiming for their own goals.

About the blind draw of Common Nighthawk, I think I didn't even consider the probability of my opponent to take it. It was just the very good card I need for my early set up, and later for the second and last EOR goals. But yeah, if I saw the food kept by opponent, I would definitly consider your option, to gain one card with the Duck power. Increase also the probability to get the food I need. Very good point.

Move 57, I don't understand why you don't play Hummingbird for forest bird #3, allowing Nighthawk to serve as forest bird 4 for the 3 food outlet. When you later played House Finch and Common Grackle back-to-back you got the order backwards.

About the move 57, I planned to play the Hummingbird in the grasslands, since it allowed me to ignore the forest (with the Poebe). I just needed couple of food to start my late game, with grassland + play bird.

Grackle should be played first, allowing House Finch the tuck and draw and chance for Grackle to tuck the card Finch drew.

Thanks for the tip! Never thought about that.

At the end I'm not sure why you moved Nighthawk to the Wetland when you did. You could have played Heron first, removing an egg from Common Grackle. You also had a Warbler you could play in the wetland. In addition to the egg you'd get back for Grackle, it would have cost 1 less egg to play a wetland bid this way. The way you locked in Nighthawk prevented you from using its slot as the fifth Grassland bird to burn extra food for eggs.

We have to look at my latest decisions through the prism of my estimated points deficit. I had to take as many risks as possible to get as many potential points as possible. The plan was here to get a hypotetical fish and play Atlantic Puffin + Heron. It didn't happen very well (note, if i'm not mistaken, that there were no fish appears in the entire game, which is highly unlikely)

[kostinen]

On your second to last turn I'd have moved to the forest to blind gain food, then moved to the wetland for round 2, allowing the cards to filter first to dig deeper for what you'd want. The blind food is more likely to be useful than the blind draws. You ended up drawing subpar cards you could have avoided upon seeing them in the tray, aside from the decent Hummingbird, which you could have chosen if you wanted it.

Here you said something that really surprised me. I need to spend some time thinking about this, but I'd be happy to have some developments on this.

Maybe it ties in a bit with this interesting comment by FrankJones here.

What I am realizing more and more, as I continue to play the base game that I had long forgotten about, is, I don't do the draw cards action nearly as often as I thought, which is exactly what Ceaseless is trying to get through to all of us in this thread. There just isn't enough mechanism to convert extra cards into anything useful; we cannot just keep drawing cards hoping for perfect cards. The 4th spot on the Oceania board allows the conversion of 2 cards into eggs. Not so on the base board. Extra cards? You're stuck. No eagles, no board actions that allow conversion. Maybe we get lucky and get a high capacity Tuck and egg like the Bushtit.

If I'm trying to figure it out, cards can't be turned into points if they're not played, unless you have tuck opportunities.
Whereas food can be turned into a point in the grasslands? I'm having a hard time convincing myself that having blind food is more interesting. Because having lots of cards gives me the impression of being able to anticipate more things in the game, and maximize my chances of finding the card that fits my deck perfectly, including the cards that makes my surplus of cards itself profitable.

[Ceaseless]

At the end I'm not sure why you moved Nighthawk to the Wetland when you did. You could have played Heron first, removing an egg from Common Grackle. You also had a Warbler you could play in the wetland. In addition to the egg you'd get back for Grackle, it would have cost 1 less egg to play a wetland bid this way. The way you locked in Nighthawk prevented you from using its slot as the fifth Grassland bird to burn extra food for eggs.

We have to look at my latest decisions through the prism of my estimated points deficit. I had to take as many risks as possible to get as many potential points as possible. The plan was here to get a hypotetical fish and play Atlantic Puffin + Heron. It didn't happen very well (note, if i'm not mistaken, that there were no fish appears in the entire game, which is highly unlikely)

Hummingbird is only used one time after moving Hawk, so that's the only roll that counts here. You moved Common Nighthawk from Grassland to Wetland turn 169 on your third to last turn. My question is what good Nighthawk does there. In the Wetland, it increases the cost of your Wetland bird by a full egg. On the other hand, you could play Heron right now, taking the egg off of Grackle for the last Grassland push. The 2 for 1 for the fish does not matter, if you play Puffin, then you will make that trade anyways. If you don't play Puffin, you already have the food you need for Warbler. Your opponent has 2 birds in the Wetland and no cards in hand, meaning you playing 2 wetland birds to get you to 3 will seal the deal. They could try blind drawing, but given their Grassland is worth 5 points plus Kestral, they're betting they pull quite the Wetland bird. It's not worth the risk to get what's probably breaking even in ideal circumstances, more likely to flop than not.

On your second to last turn I'd have moved to the forest to blind gain food, then moved to the wetland for round 2, allowing the cards to filter first to dig deeper for what you'd want. The blind food is more likely to be useful than the blind draws. You ended up drawing subpar cards you could have avoided upon seeing them in the tray, aside from the decent Hummingbird, which you could have chosen if you wanted it.

Here you said something that really surprised me. I need to spend some time thinking about this, but I'd be happy to have some developments on this.

Maybe it ties in a bit with this interesting comment by FrankJones here.

What I am realizing more and more, as I continue to play the base game that I had long forgotten about, is, I don't do the draw cards action nearly as often as I thought, which is exactly what Ceaseless is trying to get through to all of us in this thread. There just isn't enough mechanism to convert extra cards into anything useful; we cannot just keep drawing cards hoping for perfect cards. The 4th spot on the Oceania board allows the conversion of 2 cards into eggs. Not so on the base board. Extra cards? You're stuck. No eagles, no board actions that allow conversion. Maybe we get lucky and get a high capacity Tuck and egg like the Bushtit.

If I'm trying to figure it out, cards can't be turned into points if they're not played, unless you have tuck opportunities.
Whereas food can be turned into a point in the grasslands? I'm having a hard time convincing myself that having blind food is more interesting. Because having lots of cards gives me the impression of being able to anticipate more things in the game, and maximize my chances of finding the card that fits my deck perfectly, including the cards that makes my surplus of cards itself profitable.

Blind food is usually playable. At bare minimum it will 2 for 1 into something if you play a bird, but this early in the game, you'll probably have something that it can be used for normally. Just pick the most generic looking food and it will probably go somewhere. Dead birds, on the other hand, only work if you can tuck them.

In a game, you will gain food a certain number of times and draw cards a certain number of times. On turn 8, the question for you was whether you'd rather use one of those gain foods down or draw cards. Whichever you took care of now meant you'd probably have to deal with the other later. So which one was more immediate and which one was better to put off?

Normally I prefer seeing my birds first to have a better idea of which food will be live. However, because this is the last turn of the round, you will dig through several cards just by going to the next turn and watching the tray get refilled. If you have nothing you want from the current tray, delaying your card draw 1 turn gives you more digging than actually drawing will. So by taking your food a little bit earlier, you expand your drawing range into the deck by 3 cards. In this case, the two dead cards you pulled would have been ruled out as duds when they ended up face-up on the tray instead, and you could have intentionally decided if Hummingbird was worth it. The turn you spend on gaining food in round 2 could instead be spent on your drawing, since the turn you spend on drawing on round 1 was used on gaining good. You pretty much flipped them.