The Thing with Feathers (35 page)

magnetism

avian navigation,
17
–18,
20

starling flock behavior,
47
–48

magpie-larks,
197

magpies

black-billed magpies,
192
,
194

Eurasian,
187
,
192
,
194
,
198

funerals,
194
–95

intelligence,
192
,
195
,
201

lore concerning,
190
–92

recognition of human faces,
192
–93

self-recognition,
187
–89,
195

species of,
192

taunting of larger animals,
193

and theft,
193
–94

Mallow, Johannes,
171

manakins,
134
–35

Manx shearwaters,
7
–9

Mazzeo, Rosario,
8
–9

memory

brain-computer metaphor,
178
–79

cognitive processing limit of seven items,
47

competitions,
169
–71,
176
–78

episodic memory,
200
–201

loss through disuse,
180
–81

memory-palace mnemonic technique,
175
–78,
179

See also
nutcrackers

Miller, George,
46

Moore, Joe,
110

mourning doves,
253

murmuration display,
29
–31,
48

music.
See
dance and music

natural selection.
See
evolutionary strategies

navigation.
See
homing; pigeons

Nazca boobies,
254

New Guinea birds of paradise,
133

nomads

food-specialist birds,
78
–79

humans,
87
–88

snowy owls,
77
,
81
,
84
,
85
–86,
88

northern cardinals,
195
–97

northern finches,
78
–79

Nowak, Martin,
236
–38

nutcrackers

Clark’s nutcracker,
165
–66,
168
,
172
–74,
179
–80

distinguishing characteristics,
166

intelligence,
167

mental maps and spatial memory,
169
,
172
–74,
180

seed caching,
167
–69

winter nesting,
166
–67

olfaction

black vultures,
63

condors,
54

mercaptan compounds and,
59
–60

pigeon navigation,
18
–19

seabirds,
61

taste perception and,
65

See also
turkey vultures

owls.
See
snowy owls

Parisi, Giorgio,
44

parrots

African gray parrot (Alex),
138

intelligence,
192

sulphur-crested cockatoo (Snowball),
129
–33,
135
,
138
,
139

synchronization of movement to external rhythm,
137
,
143

vasa parrot,
252

passenger pigeons,
42
,
43

Patel, Aniruddh,
129
–33,
137
–38,
139
,
142

pecking order

favorite-foods exercise,
155
–56,
157
–58

king chicken theorems,
157

pigeon flock behavior,
21

round-robin-style tournaments,
150
–52,
156
,
157

transitive relationships,
152
–54

triangular relationships,
152
,
156

See also
chickens

penguins

diurnal habit,
124
–25

emperor penguin,
125

fear of predatory leopard seals,
116
–17,
125
–26

king penguin,
253

nesting routines,
262

Penguin Science tracking project,
110
–12

reluctance to enter water,
115
–16

rockhopper penguin,
262

tame and approachable nature,
109
–11,
112
,
122

wintertime northward migration,
124
,
125

peregrine falcons,
76
–77

pigeons

Birmingham roller,
15

conditioning to human presence,
114

diurnal habit,
16
–17

doves,
14
,
252
–53

flock behavior,
21
,
42

infrasound navigation,
19

intelligence,
19
–20,
25
,
153

lost birds,
5
–6,
19
,
20
–21,
23
–25

magnetic-field sensitivity,
17
–18

military communications uses,
12
–13

mourning doves,
253

multiple navigation methods,
12
,
16
,
17
,
19
–20

navigational abilities among various species,
14
–15

olfactory navigation,
18
–19

passenger pigeons,
42
,
43

racing events,
11
,
13
–14,
22
–23

Racing Homer,
15

sun-based navigation,
16
,
17

tippler,
15

training for racing,
15
,
21
–22,
23
,
25

training for self-recognition,
201
–2

visual mapping by landmarks,
15
–16

Pinker, Steven,
140
–41

Plutchik, Robert,
118
–19

prisoner’s dilemma,
228
–31,
236

purple-crowned fairy-wrens

genetic relationships and cooperative nesting,
224
,
227
,
228

group living,
239
–40

nest productivity,
234

plumage,
223

Racing Homer pigeons,
15

red-capped manakins,
134

redpolls,
78
,
79

regent bowerbirds,
206

Renaud, Captain,
11

Reynolds, Craig,
34

rhythm.
See
dance and music; parrots

robins,
17
,
122
–23,
197

rockhopper penguins,
262