Do birds think?

By Pene Beavan Horton

The other day I was watching two black crows in a tree. They made me wonder what birds think about 24/7.

Do they think, and if so, what shape would their thoughts take? Without words, what shape can thoughts take?

What would happen if we humans couldn’t think in words? I guess scenes would just pass in front of our senses as a stream of sensations...

I Googled ‘do birds think’. Who would have thought that there’d be numerous sites about whether birds think or not? Like this charming blog by Woodpecker …

“I sometimes wonder as I look at my garden birds, do they have a conscious mind, are they capable of thought processes like we humans, or are they merely living automatons following a set of inbuilt complex instructions?

“When they awake each morning do they think "Ooh, what a lovely morning, nice to see the sun again, what shall I do today?" or "What a lousy night, those …. starlings kept me awake all night again with their incessant chatter. I am going to move out and find somewhere else to roost."

Next I found bird thoughts put to music. Composer Derek Charke says, “The seed of inspiration for this composition comes from the poem by Al Purdy entitled, ‘What do the Birds Think?’ The composition does not quote the poem in any absolute form but rather embraces an abstract concept of nostalgia, remembrance, migration, birdcalls and isolated places.”

You can listen to the music at http://www.charke.com/comp/comp/chamber/birds.htm

Or check out this article: “A Thinking Bird, or Just Another Birdbrain? by Dinitia Smith

“For the last 22 years, Dr. Pepperberg has been teaching Alex, an African Gray parrot who is 23, to do complex tasks of the sort that only a few nonhuman species -- chimpanzees, for instance -- have been able to perform. But unlike those other creatures, Alex can talk, or at least, he can vocalize.

And, Dr. Pepperberg says, “Alex doesn't just imitate human speech, as other parrots do -- Alex can think. His actions are not just an instinctive response,” she says, “but rather a result of reasoning and choice.” http://www.123compute.net/dreaming/knocking/alex.html

 Is thinking something that only we humans can do, or do animals think as well? And if they do, how do they think and what do they think? Once you’ve been cold shouldered by your cat after you’ve been away for a week, you’ll know that your pet is miffed with you and doesn’t mind showing it. Cats obviously think!

Birds keep returning to bird feeders in your garden, hummingbirds keep coming back for their nectar … which implies that they’ve put two and two together or they wouldn’t bother.

I remember a grey parrot in Africa who spent his days in a cage on his owner’s verandah. The gate to the house squealed loudly when opened, and the noise made the owner’s little dog break into shrill barks. It wasn’t long before the parrot was imitating the squealing gate, followed immediately by imitating the barking dog. To his owner’s dismay, the parrot amused himself by doing this all day long.

Which makes me wonder if birds not only think, but have a sense of humour too?