EARTH & US — Appreciating Birds
In the May issue of The Sun, Jennifer Ackerman wrote a fascinating article, “Bird’s Eye View,” about birds and their intelligence. https://www.thesunmagazine.org/sections/237-the-sun-interview
She wrote:
“…any scientist will tell you it’s not easy to probe the mind of another animal, especially when they have kinds of intelligence that differ from our own. We know how to measure things that we’re good at, like solving physical problems. Scientists may give a bird food in a container that it has to figure out how to open in order to eat. The scientists observe how long it takes the bird to solve the problem and whether it’s showing ‘behavioral flexibility.’ Can it shift its strategies? Can it innovate when confronted with new challenges? That’s pretty easy for us to measure, but birds also have social intelligence, musical intelligence, and other kinds of intelligence that are harder to measure. For example, we’re still trying to figure out how birds know where they’re going. Humans don’t have the innate capacity to navigate using the earth’s magnetic fields and other information sources.”
Ackerman observes that birds are an ancient species, evolved from dinosaurs, and have been around for some 55 million years — a long time to develop their intelligence. Their brains are dense with neurons.
She notes that birds who do not require a period of parental nurturance don’t have as much intellectual development as those who require parental care for up to a year, such as the New Caledonian Crow or the Great Horned Owl. The crows learn from their parents how to make tools to help them harvest grubs out of trees; they use “meta-tools” — using one tool to secure another. This intelligent behavior had only been observed in humans and Great Apes.
“The crow dubbed ‘007’ by Dr. Alex Taylor completed an eight-stage puzzle, using one tool to get another, until it finally obtained the tool that could then be used to access the food. This crow had seen the stages of the puzzle before, but never in that order. And 007 solved the puzzle in three minutes. It’s quite amazing. You can see him do it on YouTube,” writes Ackerman.
Corvids (the crow family) are so smart! “In Japan, Carrion Crows will drop nuts on the roadway when the stoplight is red. When it turns green, the cars roll over the nuts, cracking them open. The crows then wait for another red light before they swoop down and pick up the nutmeats.”
Alex was an African Grey Parrot, considered the most intelligent bird species. Alex could understand more than a hundred words, as well as abstract ideas, and do basic math. You could ask Alex, “How many objects are on this tray?” and he would count them correctly.
Music
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Birds’ musical abilities are legendary. Some, like the Mockingbird and canary, can sing two notes at once; many can trill. The Mockingbird is famous for its ability to imitate a huge range of other birds’ songs. Marsh Warblers, says Ackerman, “have a song that includes pieces of songs from seventy or eighty other species.”
Birds will also strategically imitate a predator: “Blue Jays can imitate the calls of a Red-tailed Hawk, to scare away their fellow Blue Jays and have the feast to themselves.”
Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds have always intrigued me; I love watching how they can fly forwards, backwards, and hover in midair, like tiny helicopters. They beat their wings 50–200 times per second, creating that familiar blur.
Of the 350 known species of hummingbird, none exist outside of North and South America.
In terms of migratory feats, these tiny birds go the farthest of any bird in proportion to body length, according to LeBaron. The rufous hummingbird has the longest migration of any hummingbird species. Their annual trek covers more than 3,000 miles from Alaska and Canada to southern Mexico. Some ruby-throated hummingbirds fly 500 miles nonstop (in one day) across the Gulf of Mexico during both spring and fall migrations. Imagine 500 miles without a single rest stop or drop of nectar to sustain them! Normally, they can eat twice their body weight daily, visiting over 1,000 flowers each day, and have a very high metabolic rate.
During cold nights, hummingbirds enter a deep sleep similar to hibernation in which the metabolic rate drops as much as 95%. This lowers their body temperature so much that it takes them 20 minutes to an hour to wake up from this state. When awake, their mighty little hearts beat 1260 times per minute!
Hummingbirds have the largest brain-to-body proportion of any bird. They possess excellent memory, especially for remembering locations of flowers and hummingbird feeders. They also exhibit sophisticated learning skills, adapting to new situations during migration. They can solve problems, such as finding the most efficient route to a food source.
In many Native American cultures, hummingbirds are revered as symbols of love, joy, luck, and healing, often associated with beauty and wisdom, sometimes even depicted as messengers from the spirit world.
According to Alberto Villoldo, “Hummingbirds are amazing creatures and their journey is the medicine. Hummingbirds feed from the sweetest nectar of life. They don’t stay comfortable and warm and safe in a sweet little nest they made for themselves. They are called to make an epic journey and they go! They don’t say maybe when I retire, grow bigger wings, or get enough miles to upgrade to business class. They just go when called.”
Villoldo believes we can embody and experience hummingbird medicine: Break free of the past, go for the flowers and the sweetness of life. Step into a deep restful state, not vigilant. Fly behind those who have prepared the way. Show up for Destiny and make the journey we are called to.
