Birds display a variety of learned behaviors that they acquire through experience and observation during their lifetimes. Learned behaviors in birds can vary greatly between species and even between individual birds within a species. Some examples of learned behaviors that are commonly seen in birds include:
Foraging behaviors
Many birds learn specialized foraging techniques to locate and acquire food. For example, blue tits learn to peel back the foil caps of milk bottles delivered at homes in the UK to drink the cream underneath. Black-capped chickadees learn to break open seeds by holding them between their feet and hammering them with their beak against a tree branch. Ravens learn to follow wolf packs and scavenge from their kills. Many urban birds like pigeons, crows, and gulls learn to associate humans with food and will congregate in areas where food waste is commonly found.
Communication
Bird songs and calls are learned rather than purely instinctual in most species of birds. Young birds learn songs and call notes by listening to adult birds of their species. Dialects can arise within a species when birds in one geographic area learn songs and calls that are slightly different than birds from another region. Mimicry is also a learned skill seen in parrots, lyrebirds, and some other types of birds. These birds can accurately imitate sounds, both natural and artificial, that they hear in their environment.
Migration routes
Migratory birds learn migration routes rather than having innate knowledge of where to travel. Young birds learn migration routes and timing by traveling with experienced adults in their first journeys. Some migratory birds are even able to adapt and establish new migration patterns. For example, a population of European blackcaps developed a reversed migration route spending winters in Britain rather than Africa due to availability of backyard bird feeders.
Predator avoidance
Birds can learn to recognize and flee from specific predator species that pose a danger. This may involve learning visual cues associated with a predator, like plumage color patterns, or recognizing warning calls from other birds in their social group. Some birds can even discriminate between individual humans, becoming wary of certain people associated with danger while remaining comfortable around others.
Tool use
Some birds like New Caledonian crows exhibit remarkable tool crafting abilities that are learned behaviors rather than instinctual. These crows use their beaks and feet to fashion twigs, leaves, and other natural materials into hooked tools. They pass these skills on to their offspring by having the young birds observe adults making and using tools to extract food from crevices and other hard to reach places.
Nest building
While the instinct to build a nest is innate in birds, the specifics of nest construction technique are learned. Young birds pay close attention to parental nest construction and then replicate those methods when building their own first nests after fledging. Birds can adapt their nest building strategies depending on available materials. For example, African weaver birds that typically weave intricate nests will still attempt to construct nests, even if no suitable nesting material is available.
Conditioned behaviors
Birds can be conditioned to perform certain behaviors through positive reinforcement training. Feeding birds in association with specific whistles or other cues can train them to return on command. Similarly, behaviors like landing on a hand, spinning, vocalizing, or entering specific areas can be taught using a reward system. Even complex cognitive tasks like counting and differentiated object identification can be taught to some intelligent bird species like crows.
Mobbing
Mobbing is an anti-predator behavior seen in many bird species where individuals will work together to harass, distract, or drive off a potential predator. Flocking birds like crows and small passerines will gather to mob much larger raptors, snakes, or mammals. Each local population of mobbing birds learns which species are deemed threats warranting a mobbing response through their experiences detecting predators and observing mobbing behavior of other birds in their groups.
Diet expansion
Birds can learn to exploit new food sources outside of their innate or historical diets through observational learning. Captive birds intentionally taught new food preferences will later introduce those foods to wild birds. For example, blue tits learned to consume cream from foil-capped milk bottles after the behavior was first adopted by isolated individuals and spread through flocks via cultural transmission.
Innovations and tradition
Learned knowledge and behaviors can propagate through bird populations and become “traditions.” When these behaviors provide survival or reproductive benefits, they can become widespread if culturally transmitted to many individuals. Traditions can occasionally lead to maladaptive behaviors as well. For example, an informational cascade occurred in a population of titmice that led to the widespread but detrimental adoption of using cigarette butts in nest building.
Habitat preferences
Habitat selection is learned in birds rather than completely innate. Birds often return to breed in proximity of where they were born and raised, demonstrating natal habitat preference induction. Complex cultural factors influence habitat choices in birds as well. For example, some geese and ducks follow traditional migratory paths year after year, even if changes to habitat or resource availability make alternative destinations more optimal.
Social behaviors
Flocking, mate selection, grooming, territoriality, predator mobbing, parenting, and other social behaviors in birds involve learned components. Young birds develop these skills over time by interacting with elders and peers. Social learning can sometimes lead to non-adaptive traditions as well. For example, a population of megapodes learned to attack and kill conspecific intruders within their group, a maladaptive behavior not seen in other megapode populations.
Foraging route traditions
Some bird populations exhibit well-defined traditional foraging routes rather than ranging randomly while seeking food. These routes are learned by juveniles following and observing experienced adults. Adopting traditional routes may provide consistency, optimize energy expenditure, and facilitate information sharing about food availability within the flock. However, it can also lead to overexploitation of one area while leaving other potential feeding grounds underutilized.
Migration timing
The seasonal timing of migrations is learned in young birds rather than innately programmed. Migration timing involves complex interactions between changes in day length, weather patterns, vegetation cycles, and other environmental cues. Juveniles on their first migration learn optimal timing through their travel companions. This timing can be quite precise, with some long-distance migratory birds hitting within a window of a few days annually on journeys spanning thousands of miles.
Vocal dialects
Regional vocal dialects arise in some birds species when distinct songs, calls, or contact notes are passed on culturally. Young birds develop local accents by mimicking elders in their group. Nearby bird populations can have markedly different dialects. These variations occur even when all groups are genetically similar and capable of interbreeding. Vocal dialects are well-documented in species like chickadees, penguins, and parrots.
Bad habits
Learned behaviors are not uniformly beneficial in birds. In some cases, bad habits can emerge and become traditional. For example, an introduced population of Indian mynas moved into the niche of breeding in noisy ventilation ducts. This inhibits their ability to hear the vocal cues from their chicks. Some gulls develop bad behavior like nesting on rooftops and stealing human food. Juveniles learn these habits from other gulls engaging in the behavior successfully.
Problem-solving skills
Some birds like the corvid family demonstrate exceptional problem-solving abilities that rely on cognitive learning. Ravens, crows, jays, and their relatives are known for insights like using tools, bartering, playing clever tricks, and even manipulating social behavior of other birds to steal caches of food. These skills develop through observation, play, and insight building as juveniles mature within an intelligent social group.
Migration shortcuts
Established migratory paths can be shortened over time as birds discover and learn improved routes. Juveniles migrating for the first time explore and pioneer new paths. If these provide advantages, they can be adopted by the rest of the flock and passed down culturally. For example, Turkish northern bald ibises bred in Europe learned to shortcut their migration route over the course of several generations.
Feeding innovations
Learned feeding innovations occur when birds find novel food sources or utilize new foraging techniques. Intelligent, highly exploratory birds are most likely to pioneer new food exploitation behaviors. If these provide an advantage, other birds can acquire the skills through cultural transmission. Examples include British great tits learning to open milk bottles, Galapagos woodpecker finches learning to use cactus spines or small sticks to extract insects, and green-rumped parrotlets in Peru learning to open and consume corn kernels.
Disease avoidance
Birds can learn to recognize and avoid sick individuals through associating visual, auditory, or olfactory cues with illness. These cues can prompt avoidance before any symptoms appear in the susceptible bird. Social species transfer this learned disease-avoidance behavior rapidly through flock interactions. Experiments show that observer birds housed with sick flockmates later avoid those specific sick individuals when given a choice, demonstrating learned disease recognition.
Predator recognition
Recognizing and responding appropriately to different predator species is a learned ability in birds. Young birds become wary of predators through direct experience and by observing the alarm calls and escape responses of older flock members. Birds must correctly identify predators on sight and differentiate them from non-threats. Experiments show that hand-raised birds fail to recognize potential predators like hawks until after observing other birds reacting fearfully to them.
Nest site selection
Choosing safe, protected nesting locations helps ensure breeding success. Nest site selection involves complex learned behaviors shaped by environmental factors, competition, and predators. Young birds assess options based on criteria like camouflage, shelter, food/water access, territorial disputes, and predator density observed when following experienced adults during site selection.
Migration navigation
The navigational map system used during migration is learned rather than innate. Juveniles on their first migration establish mental maps of landmarks while traveling with older birds. Experienced adults likely provide additional spatial cues to guide naive juveniles through unfamiliar terrain. Once internal navigation maps are learned, birds can exploit them in future migrations even without a knowledgeable guide.
Brood parasitism
Obligate brood parasites like cuckoos and cowbirds learn to identify potentially exploitable host species for raising offspring. They develop search images for suitable nests and hosts by observing elders parasitizing other birds’ nests during early development. Brood parasites may also learn behaviors that increase acceptance by hosts, like mimicking the appearance or vocalizations of the host species.
Winter flocking
Some species of birds gather in large mixed-species winter flocks for purposes like enhanced food finding, predator detection, or thermoregulation benefits. Juveniles must learn which species form associations in these flocks and how to integrate during the scheduled flocking period. Roosting behavior, flock travel routes, and intra-flock social associations are learned by first-year birds joining winter flocks.
Foraging niches
Closely related bird species partitioning resources is common. For example, chickadees stratify vertically within a habitat while foraging for insects. Lower birds in the canopy learn to restrict themselves to lower branches while upper canopy foragers concentrate on outer branches. This avoids excessive competition and partitions niches. Young birds learn appropriate social foraging zones within the habitat as they develop foraging skills.
Feeding strategies
Specific techniques used to acquire food are learned in birds, whether it is snatching insects from foliage, prying open shells on rocks, digging in soil for worms, wading to stir up aquatic prey, or any other foraging tactic. Juvenile birds start out clumsily imitating the successful feeding strategies modeled by proficient adults around them as their skills improve.
Group hunting
Some birds like Harris hawks cooperate to pursue and capture prey through coordinated hunting in social groups. Young hawks must learn effective teamwork by participating in group hunts led by experienced older birds. Roles during hunts are learned over time, with juveniles gradually taking on more integral cooperative parts as they gain necessary skills.
| Category | Examples of Learned Behaviors in Birds |
|---|---|
| Foraging behaviors | Opening milk bottles, seed cracking on branches, wolf pack following, scavenging in cities |
| Communication | Bird songs, mimicry, regional dialects |
| Migration | Routes, timing, navigation, shortcuts |
| Predator avoidance | Visual recognition, warning calls, differentiating individuals |
| Tool use | Crafting hooks, bending wires, using sticks |
| Nest building | Material sourcing, construction techniques |
In summary, avian learning is extensive and highly varied between species. Many key behaviors that are essential for survival and reproduction in birds are not purely instinctual but rather developed through some degree of cultural transmission. Learned behaviors can be simple skills like what foods to eat or complex cognitive feats like cooperative hunting in groups. While some bird behaviors are driven by innate genetic programs, the ability to learn, adapt, and pass on new innovations to others in their flocks plays a vital role throughout a bird’s life.
Conclusion
Birds display a wide array of learned behaviors that they acquire through experience, observation of others, play, insight, and practice. Foraging strategies, communication, predator evasion, migration routes, tool use, nest construction, and social interaction skills represent some key examples. Avian learning is both a product of natural selection favoring cognitive flexibility and a mechanism enabling birds to adapt successfully within their ecological niche. The open programmability of avian brains allows behaviors to be cultured and passed between generations alongSide innate instincts. From clever food-finding tricks to beautifully intricate songs, learned behaviors help define birds as the intelligent, highly successful species they are today.
