Words: Joan McFadden
Bird brained has been an insult meaning ‘stupid’ for nearly 500 years, but the feats of our feathered friends suggest that they are anything but. Migration and intricate nest building may be based on instinct, yet many birds also use tools, mimic voices, recognise faces and solve puzzles. And who could forget the magpies in the Detectorists, helping the main characters find treasure..?
It’s the time of year when we’re aware of fledglings as baby birds attempt to make their way in the world. It’s also a vulnerable time, as the young of most birds fledge once they’re fully feathered but before they can fly. This means they spend a day or more on the ground while their flight feathers complete their growth, usually with attentive parents ready to distract any potential predators.
More than nature?
Once they’ve taken flight, birds are considerably more robust though never entirely safe, and many species have developed incredible survival skills. The birds that, through evolution, lost their ability to fly have developed new strengths to compensate, such as ostriches with their strong legs to outrun hunters and penguins being sleek and agile swimmers.
While these traits, along with migration patterns and amazing nest-building skills, may be the result of evolution, other skills hint at a little more cunning than simply following natural instincts. The sociable weaver birds of South Africa build huge permanent nests housing up to 200 birds, and the Gila woodpecker of western Mexico and south-west United States build their nests in cacti. Meanwhile, a number of species, including the Central American trogon, the weaver bird and waxbill, may set up home near a wasps’ nest, thereby deterring potential predators.
Bird life laid bare
For low cunning, the cuckoo is certainly a piece of work. These summer visitors to the UK are well-known brood parasites, replacing another bird’s eggs with its own. A cuckoo’s young will hatch after just 12 days, pushing the host’s babies out of the nest and bagging all the food brought by the parent bird. Meanwhile, the adult cuckoos, their work done, then leave these “changelings” to be raised by another bird and head for Africa.
Parrots get a much better press with their ability to mimic human speech – the latest research even suggests responsive conversation – dance along to music, play dead, and fetch. They also revel in company, are very affectionate and respond well to treats and enthusiasm.
Smart thinking
The documentary Life of Birds with David Attenborough was first shown 25 years ago, and its focus on birds’ brainpower began research, which is still ongoing. Some birds have shown astonishing powers of recall. For example, the Clarke’s nutcracker, a type of North American crow, collects up to 30,000 pine seeds over three weeks in November, then carefully buries them for safekeeping across an area of 200 square miles. Over the next eight months, it succeeds in retrieving over 90% of them, even when they are covered in deep snow.
On the Pacific island of New Caledonia, crows demonstrate a capability comparable to Palaeolithic man, making and using two different forms of hooked “tool” to pull grubs from deep within tree trunks. Using their beaks as scissors and snippers, they fashion hooks from twigs and make barbed, serrated rakes or combs from stiff leathery leaves. They also carry them from one foraging place to another, reusing as required.
Imagination taking flight
The corvid family – crows, ravens, rooks, magpies and jackdaws – are considered to be amongst the smartest of all birds, which was evident when Life of Birds showed a wild crow in Japan dropping hard-to-crack nuts into traffic so that cars would drive over them and save them the effort. Taking things one step further, the crow dropped the nuts on a pavement so that it was safer to retrieve the food.
In Aesop’s fables, written around 500 BC, a thirsty crow uses stones to reach water in a pitcher. As it adds more stones, the water level rises, and the crow is able to drink. This behaviour is taken for granted now but back then it was inspirational.
For many cultures, the magpie is an omen of good fortune and prosperity, representing hope and strength in trying times, possibly because of its ability to find food even in the harshest conditions. Its resilience, courage and optimism are legendary, and research reveals that magpies grieve, play games, divide food evenly amongst their young and recognise their own reflections.
In the popular TV series the Detectorists magpies lead the main characters, Andy and Lance, to an elusive treasure as well as playing a large part in helping them feel secure in their own lives. This is one bird brain we could all learn from.
