Book Review: The Genius of Birds

In the alley behind my apartment, a nest of monk parakeets built a four-foot tall nest against an electrical transformer, ostensibly to keep warm through the Chicago winter.  Their squawking drove my cats into fits.
Think about it:  Monk parakeets, which originate in Argentina, are surviving in the Windy City, not the most temperate climate in the US.  How is that possible?  It must take some genius.
Hence, Jennifer Ackerman’s The Genius of Birds.  


Ackerman’s book does not address the Chicago parakeets’ adaptability, but it does probe all sorts of curious abilities that birds possess.  Exactly how does a bird learn to sing?  Why are some species better problem-solvers than others?  Do birds innately know how to migrate or must they construct a mental roadmap?
I admit that I’m not much of a bird-watcher.  Typically, I notice birds as harbingers of spring, when they wake me at 4 am with their songs.  And I do find it exciting to spot a less ubiquitous species in my neighborhood.
But after reading Ackerman’s book, I'm hooked.  
Birds of all species exhibit degrees of intelligence that surprisingly match some of the methodology that humans use.  Birds can figure out puzzles, identify paintings by particular artists, recognize human faces, orient themselves in new environments, and pick up on subtle non-verbal communication from their mates.
But can you measure a bird’s intelligence against a human’s?  Are they comparable?  According to Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner, there are eight types of intelligence, ranging from bodily, linguistic, logical, spatial, and musical.  Apparently, birds and humans share some of the same measures.
For example, a New Caledonian Crow, named “007”, exhibited some impressive cognitive ability.  Presented with various stones and sticks, it picked out tools to access special chambers to secure a cube of meat.  007 had seen pieces of the puzzle before but never in this particular 8-step configuration.  In 2 ½ minutes, 007 figured it out and won the prize.
Birds have been shown to adapt to their environments.  Sparrows can figure out how to trigger a sensor above an automatic door so they could gain access to a mall food court.  Finches discovered how to pop the lid off of milk bottles to steal the cream.
Ackerman writes:

“Birds know where to sing and when.  In the open, sound travels best a few feet or so above the vegetation, so birds sing from perches to reduce interference.  Those singing on the forest floor use tonal sounds and lower frequencies than those singing in the canopy.  Some use frequencies that avoid the noise from insects and traffic. Birds living near airports sing their dawn chorus earlier than normal to reduce overlap with the roar of airplanes.”

"Bird-brain is a misnomer." That’s pretty amazing stuff.  Another example is that zebra finches which sing more complicated songs are also better problem-solvers:  the better singers could also figure out how to get the lid off of a food container.
Bird song itself is remarkable.  A bird either learns its melody by listening and practicing its song or is coached by a parent.  Birds can replicate a complicated melody better than a human can repeat a set phrase. Researcher Richard Mooney had a graduate student repeat a simple sentence one hundred times.  He then compared the spectrogram next to that of a bird’s song.  

“No matter how hard the diligent student tries, his replications of his own syllables are wildly variable.  The zebra finch’s are nearly identical.”

Ackerman’s book is chock full of fascinating studies, as well as explorations of behaviors and traits.  Clearly researchers are picking up clues about the special abilities of birds, but also determining how it relates to human intelligence.
I had only two complaints about the book, and these are negligible:
1)    The book was so fascinating that I was reading it too quickly.  There was such a wealth of information that I could not retain it all.  I will definitely have to re-read it (not a hardship).2)    I wish there had been pictures of the different species of birds, just for general reference. But I suppose that is what search engines are for.
I already know that this book will be on my Top Ten list at the end of the year. It’s that good.