When people use the term “bird brain,” it’s not usually meant as a compliment. Why would it? After all, a bird’s brain can fit inside a nut. Yes, we used to view these animals solely by their size and thought that birds were so small and primitive, there was no way that they could be resourceful, intelligent, creative creatures. Thankfully, over the years, our perspective of bird cleverness has shifted thanks to new studies and research done on the intelligence of birds.
Now, we are aware that birds are able to solve complex problems, communicate through their own language, count, and make their own tools. And while it is difficult to measure the intelligence in ourselves and other species, it’s just as difficult to view the cultural traditions of wild birds and not be impressed with their cognitive skills.
The language birds speak, or sing, is passed down from parents to baby birds. They learn songs the same way we learn language, by listening to an example of a sound and mimicking it in their own voice. A baby bird’s song is equivalent to what we consider baby babble. They are observing their surroundings and taking in the language they hear. Over time, they began to carry a mental model of a song and are able to speak as beautiful as we know a bird’s song to be.
Toolmaking is another cultural tradition passed down in the wild bird community. Similar to learning their song, baby birds observe their parents properly protecting, feeding, and sheltering themselves. Different types of birds can make a variety of tools. For example, ravens have developed the ability to carve a hook at the end of a twig to better reach their prey.
So if being called a “bird brain” means you’re a clever, intelligent, problem-solver, it seems that having a bird brain is pretty awesome.
“These tiny brains, it turns out, are mostly made of sophisticated information processing systems that work in much the same way as our own cerebral cortex. (Apparently there are more ways than one to wire an intelligent brain.) Ravens, crows, even hummingbirds do things that are just plain smart—and funny and sneaky and deceitful.”
– Jennifer Ackerman, The Genius of Birds
You can buy The Genius of Birds at Chirp in the Village and listen to this radio interview On Point: Brilliant Bird Brains with Jennifer Ackerman to learn more about the amazing abilities of wild birds.
