Quite a few years ago someone gave me a binder they inherited labeled Bird Biology: Seminars from the Laboratory of Ornithology at Cornell University. It is a great resource on the life of birds and a fun read to geek out on. I wanted to share part of it so when you are at your next ornithological cocktail party, you will be able to feel more relaxed and get involved in some nerdy conversations about birds.
“Watch an American Robin on your lawn as it scratches its head. Note that it always passes its leg over a drooped wing, indirectly. All American Robins, as far as we know, scratch their heads in this way. Ovenbirds, on the other hand, always scratch their heads directly by passing the leg in front of the wing. Any behavior that a bird repeats in the same way is stereotyped; any behavior that is the same in all members of a species is species-specific. The indirect head-scratching behavior in the American Robin is stereotyped, species-specific, and probably instinctive.
Because birds no doubt inherit stereotyped, species-specific behaviors, such as the head-scratching behavior in the American Robin, and perform them without preliminary experience or learning, we call them instinctive, or innate. No American Robin learns to scratch its head indirectly; it just does it that way from the first scratch until it dies. Instinctive behavior then is a stereotyped pattern of behavior that the bird inherits. We call these instinctive behavior patterns fixed action patterns.”
Cheers!
