In a park, there are five trees - oak, maple, pine, birch, and palm - that have been planted in a circle. Each tree has a unique birdhouse hanging on it, painted in different colors: red, yellow, green, blue, and purple. A group of children is playing nearby, and they decide to switch the birdhouses around as a prank. They move the red birdhouse from the oak tree to the maple tree, the yellow birdhouse from the maple tree to the pine tree, and so on. An elderly man who visits the park daily comes by later and notices the changes. Can he determine which birdhouse originally belonged to each tree?
Respond very briefly.
Without the initial position of the birdhouses before the children switched them, it is impossible for the elderly man or anyone else to determine with certainty which birdhouse originally belonged to which tree. The initial configuration of the birdhouses in relation to the trees is a necessary piece of information to deduce the original pairing after the birdhouses have been moved. Consequently, unless there is additional information or context that reveals the original arrangement or a pattern of the children's movements, the elderly man cannot ascertain the original placement based solely on the information that the birdhouses were moved.