The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think

by Jennifer Ackerman

Moreover, bivouac-checking birds show signs of behaviors that may signal planning. When an antbird checks a bivouac in the evening after a day of gorging, it does not feed; it’s just gathering information. Only in the morning, when the bird returns to the location it discovered the night before and finds the ants swarming again does it encounter its reward—the bounty from a fresh raid. In other words, the antbirds are not responding to their current state (satiation), but rather a future need (breakfast!), which suggests they may be anticipating a future event: “Check location of bivouac now in anticipation of foraging the next morning.”