The Bird Way: a new look at how birds talk, work, play, parent, and think

by Jennifer Ackerman

The aviary is currently devoted to six of the “grim, ungainly” birds, two pairs, Siden and Juno, and Rickard and None, as well as two females, Tosta and Embla. “Some ridiculous names,” says Osvath. “The dominant male is Siden, which is Swedish for ‘silk.’ There’s nothing silky about him. But we called him Siden because we tied a little silk string around his leg when we first transported him.” And None? “When we named the chicks for the experiment protocol, she was the only one without an identifying ring, so we just wrote ‘None.’ ” There’s a seventh raven on the premises, but she’s wild. “She doesn’t understand that she’s wild, so she hangs around,” says Osvath. “And when we do experiments, we open the aviary, and she just comes in, participates, and then at the end, walks out. In the ethics section of grant applications, it’s difficult to explain: She’s wild, but her participation is completely voluntary.”