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When you think of intelligent animals, what images pop into your head? Primates like chimpanzees are probably the first thing you see, likely followed by creatures like dolphins, elephants, and perhaps even the family dog. Though you’ve probably seen some incredible displays of bird behavior, it’s not very easy to imagine avians, with their pea- and walnut-sized brains, doing anything truly intelligent. But what if I told you that we’ve been thinking about birds all wrong? What if I told you that there are birds out there with intellectual capabilities comparable to those of a human child? A bird’s brain may fit in the palm of your hand, but it hides secrets you might not believe until you witness them for yourself.
Of course, before we begin our journey into the world of intelligent birds, it is important to note that not all birds are richly intelligent. Many species rely on patterns of behavior that don’t quite meet the mark of “intelligent” as we humans are inclined to define it. Nest building, for example, is quite marvelous to behold, but it is a matter of instinct in most species. Just like we wouldn’t equate a mouse and a monkey when it comes to intelligence, we shouldn’t put all birds on the same level. Even within the same species, intelligence isn’t always comparable. Just because a species generally displays intelligent behavior doesn’t mean that every individual will perform equally well—the same goes with human intelligence! The behaviors I am going to share with you are reflective of averages and common experiences shared by multiple researchers and observers—which honestly makes some of these behaviors all the more incredible!
With the disclaimers out of the way, let’s get started with a bird behavior almost everyone has had an opportunity to witness: vocalizations. If there’s one thing everyone can agree on, it’s that birds are generally quite noisy creatures. Most species have specially-tailored vocal organs that give them a greater range of sound than other creatures, and they use this range to great advantage. For many years, it was believed that bird communication was relatively simple. Most researchers agreed that bird vocalizations fit into a handful of instinctual categories, like song (for the purposes of wooing mates), danger communication, and mimicry. As research progresses, however, we are learning more and more about the nuance behind the chirps, trills, shrieks, and melodies produced by birds. Even simple songbirds, which otherwise place poorly on tests of intelligence, are capable of communicating incredibly specific things when they open their beaks. Chickadees are a prime example of birds adapting their songs to communicate specific information. The “chick-a-dee-dee-dee” cry for which they are named is actually an alarm call, and the amount of “dees” tacked onto the end signifies the severity of the threat. This trademark call is only one of two in the chickadee repertoire, with a sharper call (which sounds like “seet”) being used to raise the alarm about moving aerial predators. Grounded and stationary threats are communicated with the standard “chickadee” cry, which can inspire others to flee or even gang up against the threat—all based on how long the bell-ringer chirps. Chickadees even understand the relative importance of predator size, reacting more strongly to small predatory birds than large ones, as smaller ones prey more readily on birds the size of chickadees. They also have a grasp on which species actually threaten them in the first place—a small owl has been observed to raise some of the longest recorded alarm calls in the species, while a similarly-sized nonpredatory bird elicits no response at all. Chickadees may not be able to solve puzzles or learn human words, but they are capable of examining their environments critically and communicating what they see very specifically to their fellows. This sort of communication has been observed in a multitude of species to varying degrees, challenging long-held idea that tiny songbirds represent the very bottom of the intelligence ladder.
Birdsong itself can also encode similar specificity. Though some songbird species are a “one-way street,” with only the males doing any sort of singing, both sexes participate in many other species. Some species even participate in “duets,” with both partners in a pair singing a song so quickly and harmoniously that it sounds like it comes from a single bird. The exact notes and melodies, known as phrases, can also be arranged in a number of patterns instead of comprising the same tune over and over again. If one partner sings a particular phrase, the other must answer with a corresponding verse, indicating that such birds make quick-time judgements and reply in a way that suits the situation—an incredible feat considering the speed at which duetted songs are sung. This communication can be used in a very similar way to the chickadee alarm calls mentioned earlier, allowing two birds in a pair to locate one another and exchange information about the state of themselves and their shared nest.
The final vocal skill, mimicry, is also an area where birds showcase a lot of intellectual promise. Vocal mimics such as Bluejays and Superb Lyrebirds (whose mimicries may be among the most impressive in the bird world) do not begin life with an impressive repertoire of mimicked sounds. Rather, they must learn and perfect their mimicries over the course of their life. For some species, like the aforementioned Superb Lyrebird, mimicry replaces song when it comes to wooing mates. Males must memorize and recall a wide variety of mimicked sounds—from human activity to the noises of other birds—in order to attract a female. This sort of processing requires a great deal of brainpower, as the bird not only needs to learn a particular sound but also remember it among dozens of others. Bird mimicry can also go well beyond simple learning and repetition, ranging into realms that place particular birds alongside higher-level primates and even humans. The psittacine group, which encompasses parrots and other related birds, includes some of the most intelligent birds known to man. Though some of the “lesser” members simply mimic sounds they hear often, the “wisest” of their number are able to use memorized words to describe objects, request items, and even create completely new words to substitute limited vocabulary. African Gray Parrots in particular have demonstrated their intellectual abilities in a number of scientific studies. These birds can identify the colors of certain objects, determining a green item from an orange one without help from their trainers. They can count, so far up to a maximum of six, and can differentiate physical characteristics, such as the shape of an object One particularly notable African Gray used in research, a parrot named Alex, is reported to have used a word he had never been taught. He described an apple, a fruit unfamiliar to him, as a “banary,” fusing the names of two fruits he recognized—banana and cherry. Though they cannot use language in the exact way we can, African Grays and other “higher-order” parrots have demonstrated an understanding of words comparable to that of a two-to-three year old human child. And all with a brain the size of a walnut!
Intelligence doesn’t stop with sound, either. Other documented bird behaviors have gone a long way towards changing perceptions of bird intelligence—and more are being documented every year. One of the most glaring benchmarks of intelligence observed in birds is the use of tools. Just as they do for humans, bird tools come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Herons and their relatives have been observed “baiting” fish with insects and, in areas where humans feed ducks, bread. They have even been seen to pick up their “lure” when a fish that is too large or too small for their tastes approaches it, indicating that they have a grasp on risk and reward and can “think ahead” to the ideal outcome. Many other birds have been noted to use sticks and other slender implements to pry insects out of narrow hiding places, with some birds even modifying their tools to better perform tasks. While tool modification doesn’t seem like a highly intelligent behavior, it reflects the fact that some birds are able to understand the physical limitations of an object and modify it to do its duty better—something many other animals are incapable of. In both experimental and natural settings, some birds—from the corvid group, which includes crows and ravens—have even been shown to construct tools that take multiple steps to complete. In order to do such a thing, the birds must be able to visualize how different objects fit together and the way the end result will look. These birds have been able to assemble five-step tools in a laboratory setting, exceeding known abilities of some primates.
Some species of bird have also demonstrated the ability to understand the concept of “self” and “other.” Eurasian Magpies pass the “mirror test,” being able to recognize the image in the mirror as themself in order to remove hidden stickers and paint placed by researchers. As a point of reference for how impressive this behavior truly is, 18-month-old humans can only accomplish this task 50% of the time. Just recently, in 2016, researchers noted that Ravens seemed to understand other Ravens as individuals based on the way they behaved when caching food. If a Raven was attempting to hide food for later but knew other Ravens could observe them doing so, they would move their cache multiple times and guard it more intensely so that others would not steal it. This shows that Ravens, and potentially other birds who sport similar behaviors, are able to see other birds as individuals and understand the consequences of observation by others. This sort of logical reasoning is truly exceptional in the animal world, especially coming from creatures who were once deemed to be some of the simplest animals alive.
But how is this sort of thing even possible for birds? It is a well-known fact that “birdbrains” are minuscule, so how can they contain and process levels of information that place them alongside primates? As it turns out, many birds—especially the aforementioned corvids and psittacines—possess brains that are large compared to their body size. Bird brains also tend to be densely packed with neurons, enabling a lot information to be stored and processed inside a small space. Bird brains may be tiny, but they are highly efficient for their size!
This article represents only a few of the findings and behaviors that demonstrate the surprising intelligence of birds. Ornithologists around the world are constantly making and reporting new observations, expanding our understanding of how complex birds truly are. They may be small, but their world is one with a depth of intelligence that scientists a hundred years ago would never have thought possible. It’s amazing to think that the simple songbirds who make our mornings beautiful (and noisy) may lead lives that are just as intricate as ours.
Sources & Further Reading
Interested in seeing some intelligent behavior not discussed in the article? Check out this video on a Crow utilizing principles of water displacement to obtain pieces of food. The fable of the Crow and the pitcher wasn’t a far-fetched story after all!
This is an extensive article that discusses bird intelligence in detail. It even covers some of the most recent advances in research from 2020! If you want to know more, you should definitely check it out.
This article is a short, easy-to-digest overview of intelligent bird behaviors and some of the research touched on in this article. It also contains many links to different articles so that you further expand your knowledge on the subject.
This interesting video by the BBC showcases an African Gray Parrot demonstrating its intelligence in comparison to some young children. If you want to see things like color and shape recognition in action, this is the video for you!
This article goes into depth about the complexity behind Chickadee calls—a worthwhile read if the descriptions in this article piqued your interest!
This article discusses bird duetting and points out specific examples of birds who duet. It also includes some descriptions of the ingenious research tactics taken by scientists to document bird duetting!
This book by Jennifer Ackerman was responsible for my interest in covering the topic. If you want to read about the details of bird research and see many, many more examples of intelligent behavior, you should definitely think about picking up a copy!
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