Do birds play chicken?

[Hyphen]

Has anyone else noticed birds flying past cars just before they pass them? Do you think they do it as a sort of bird's game of chicken? 

[Chillum]

I remember seeing a wildlife programme, I think it was a David Attemborough one, which spoke about the fact that pidgeons and the like, leave it 'till the last posssible second before flying out from the path of an oncoming car. He explained it by saying that a bird's perception of time is completely different to our, and that they see things happening 10 times (or whatever) slower than we do. Therefore, what seems like a split second to us, actually seems like ages to them. It sounds plausible when you consider the speed that swallows and swifts dart about at. So, all in all, they aint that brave, in fact some of them are chickens.