Are birds of prey dumb? (1 Viewer)

There's a large park not too far from home. In the park is a set of aviaries, and in the aviaries are some birds of prey. There are two horned owls, a pair of American kestrels, a red-tailed hawk, and a bald eagle. These are all local birds that were found injured. None of these birds will ever be fit to return to the wild.

The thing is, every time I have gone by the aviaries, I couldn't help but feel oppressed. The aviaries are bare, wooden structures. There is a variety of perches in them, but little in the way of stimulation or enrichment. The birds seemed to my mind to be sitting there in conditions of deprivation.

I happened upon one of the keepers today, and asked her about this. To my surprise, she said the park rangers had inquired widely about ways to enhance the cages. They'd wondered about toys or other objects. Veterinarians, trainers, and others told them that these birds just didn't appreciate the enhancements, though. These birds are content to sit there on the perches all day, and feel no deprivation without toys or other stimuli. These birds are too dumb to require this sort of thing, the rangers were told.

The park employees do move the perches from time to time to a different location, and that's all that the birds seem to require. The keeper also said that from time to time they'll take these birds on walks through the park, which the birds enjoy immensely.

I had heard it said that owls were not very intelligent among birds. If what she said is true of predatory bird species more widely, it's somewhat surprising. Among mammals, predators tend to more intelligent than their prey. It would be interesting if hawks, eagles, kestrels, owls, etc., were less intelligent than omnivores like corvids or parrots.

I wonder if any of you know anything about the intelligence of these or other predatory avian species?

I have no answers for you, but would be surprised to find that raptors are 'more intelligent' than corvids and parrots -- both amazingly intelligent creatures.

Maybe it's just a different kind of intelligence -- the raptors can't be 'dumb' and not find enough food to remain healthy, or find suitable nesting sites, or migrate.

When I was looking into the eyes of a Saw-whet Owl yesterday, there was no way you could convince me that there wasn't intelligence there.

It's probably an intelligence that we just don't understand.

Like Beverley I think it all depends on your definition of "intelligent". Having watched Tawny Eagles in Kenya when they do precision raids at a kill to snatch food from Lappet-faced Vultures then I couldn't characterise them as dumb ..... just different.

I wonder if the answer is that many raptors are just phenomenally patient. They can sit (or hover) and concentrate for hours on end just waiting for dinner to turn up.

In the case of owls they rely on stealth for their success - so ringing bells and squawking to one another and generally "playing around" is probably contra-survival.

On the other hand parrots are highly social, relying (in some cases) on good communication between members of a group for their success. Their lifestyle is so totally different to that of the raptors it is hardly surprising that their behaviour is quite different.

From a human perspective we're more like parrots and so we can relate to their behaviour more easily!

Hi RP,

The phrase 'fed up' has it's origins in falconry, once a bird of prey has been fed it's fill it no longer needs to fly or move until that meal is digested and hunger forces action once more. A bird which is 'fed up' simply perches up somewhere it feels safe and sits still. Birds the size of african fish eagles have been recorded as flying as little as eight minutes in twenty four hours. The rest of the time they perch up. What birds of prey and owls do best is- nothing. They are positive masters of it!

An interesting explanation of the brain power of owls was once given to me: An owl with a head the size of a small orange has two eyeballs the size of golf balls-not much room left for a brain! The myth that owls are inteligent comes from their association with the goddess Athena- the goddess of knowledge. Hence Athena noctua, the Little owl, also the emblem of the city of Athens.

Ask anyone who has worked with owls- they are pretty dumb on the whole and the best bit about that is that a group of owls is known as a 'parliament' I leave you to draw your own conclusions! :t:

Woody

Calling any animal "dumb" is incorrect. An animal's behaviour has evolved to ensure that it survives long enough to pass its genes on to future generations. In Edinburgh researchers found that female Eurasian Sparrowhawks will mate with males in neighbouring territories while attempting to prevent neighbouring females mating with their male (all very East Enders so far). The suppostion is that the females are spreading the genetic risk by trying to have some offspring which are not their mate's, who may be deficient in some way. No one believes that the females are thinking this through, it's an instinctive behaviour which evolved to improve the reproductive success of females. It evolved in tandem with defending the male from the attentions of other females as he may then pay less attention to the brood in the nest.

Right about the patience of raptors, that they just sit around looking bored without actually being so.

But some owls (e.g. Tawny Owl, Barred Owl) have a phenomenal spatial memory, their success is based around being able to hunt in complete darkness, because they know where all the obstacles are. So for birds like these, moving their perches around probably isn't such a good idea.

As for providing stimulus for raptors in cages, I'd guess the best is (where possible, and yes I know this sounds a bit gruesome) to provide live prey that they can catch for themselves.

Michael

Yes Michael your last sentence echoes my thoughts exactly. As we tire of KFC so must a caged raptor tire of dead day old chicks. A live rat or mouse introduced into a cage with obstacles under which the rodent can shelter would stimulate our feathered friend.

Sorry Michael, 'bagged' live prey of any kind would be illegal in the UK.

With falcons the lure imitates prey and so provides a stimulus. Similarly a dummy bunny can be used for hawks which hunt ground prey.

My own personal opinion is that anybody who keeps birds of prey should hunt with them unless it is impractical because of injury or other circumstances. In the case of owls they should be flown daily to provide exercise and some stimulus.

Of course if birds are involved in some kind of breeding programme then there will be different priorities.

Woody

These birds are not social birds, so there is not much interaction with the other birds in the contained environment. There is only so much room in a bird's brain, and HUNT seems to occupy most of these birds thoughts.

Spar said:

All b.o.p. are social to varying degrees,how would they mate and breed,Harris hawks probably being the most social with Gos at the other end of the spectrum.

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Hi Spar,

What about Eleonora's Falcon, Lesser Kestrel, Red-footed Falcon?

Or Griffon Vultures for that matter, since they're raptors within the meaning of the act

Michael

david kelly said:

Calling any animal "dumb" is incorrect. An animal's behaviour has evolved to ensure that it survives long enough to pass its genes on to future generations. In Edinburgh researchers found that female Eurasian Sparrowhawks will mate with males in neighbouring territories while attempting to prevent neighbouring females mating with their male (all very East Enders so far). The suppostion is that the females are spreading the genetic risk by trying to have some offspring which are not their mate's, who may be deficient in some way. No one believes that the females are thinking this through, it's an instinctive behaviour which evolved to improve the reproductive success of females. It evolved in tandem with defending the male from the attentions of other females as he may then pay less attention to the brood in the nest.

Click to expand...

Hi David,

You're quite right that for any bird species, its typical nature, lifestyle, and behaviors are all well-designed for its success. Of course, as you suggest, "well-designed" is just a metaphor. No one is designing an adaptive lifestyle, particularly not the bird.

I don't agree, though, that it's (therefore) impossible, or a mistake, to evaluate the intelligence of animals. Even bearing the fact of adaptiveness in mind, it is possible to say truly or falsely that some species is more intelligent than another. It is not a mistake to do this. Indeed, we sometimes say that it is adaptive for an animal to be unintelligent, or more accurately, that it is better suited to compete if it does not expend additional energy on a larger brain, or if it doesn't roam widely out of curiosity, or what have you.

Sorry if my question rubbed some of you the wrong way; I mean "dumb" in a lighthearted way. The general area of how good birds of prey are at cognizing their environment, solving puzzles, abstracting, and so on, compared to other bird species is what I'm interested in. What value to attach to this fact, whatever it turns out to be, I'll leave for another day to discuss.

For myself, appreciation and admiration for a wide range of bird species doesn't depend on the (false) thought that they are all equal in intelligence. These aviary birds are certainly entitled to every consideration necessary for them to live as good lives as they can, wherever they stack up exactly in interspecies intelligence.

As far as stimulation goes, I don't think they feed these birds live mice/rats/birds, Michael. I think you're right that this would reliably stimulate the birds, though. Some of the poor guys can't fly anymore, however, and so would probably be frustrated though stimulated.

For what it's worth, in nearly every state in the U.S. it must be legal to feed the birds live mice. People buy live mice (and sometimes rabbits) to feed to their snakes; it's not a crime that I've ever heard of. Of course, legal or not, there are p.r. considerations in running live mice to be consumed in a bird's cage.

It is difficult to measure "intelligence" in any animal/ bird as the parameters used tend to have their roots in assessing human cognition. That said I have seen various aspects of behaviour in wild birds of prey to suggest that they have some problem-solving skills. Egyptian Vultures(true birds of prey-unlike New World Vultures) are one of a small minority of tool-using birds. In subsaharan Africa these birds employ stones as hammers to break into thick-shelled eggs(including Ostrich eggs). Bearded Vultures (Lammergeier) drop bones onto hard surfaces to break them down to bite-sized pieces. This behaviour is probably instinctive but the birds need to learn what constitutes a hard surface & develop favoured bone-breaking "yards" where the bones break easily & are then easily retrievable. Young birds seem to learn from adults. I have also personally witnessed adult Peregrine appear to cooperate in hunting Teal with one bird spooking the Teal & the other nipping in during the commotion to pick off a bird. Having seen this twice now with birds at Loch Leven in Scotland I am sure it's no accident. After the kill the first bird joined the second on the ground on both occasions though I have been unable to see whether they fed together side by side. I also remember watching a Survival production(Anglia TV) made about the wildlife of Extremadura where Spanish Imperial Eagles were filmed hunting in pairs. Hunting as a pair they had a very high hit rate against Grey-lag Geese. Perhaps birds of prey are a bit like the guys we all knew at school who would "muck about" all year doing no work but would still pass their exams at the end (wooow..........anthropomorphic or wot?)!

Well, Michael, your comment about live prey being stimulus prompts a story:

There's currently an American Kestrel being cared for by Soarin' Hawk who has earned the name "K-possum" (Kestrel being a possum) because this little bird spends more time on the floor on his belly than any bird we've ever seen. I've walked into the flight pen where he currently resides and seen nothing more than a pile of feathers in a corner with two little beady eyes peeking out. Kestrels WILL lay on their bellies from time to time, but this little guy has made a career of it!

Until, that is, live prey was introduced into the flight pen. With live prey as 'stimulus', K-Possum turns into a REAL Kestrel and has actually been seen perching on the overhead perches! A massive improvement over lying in the corner like a worn-out feather duster!

And although this observation may be veering off on a tangent: does anyone consider 'personality' to be a component of 'intelligence'?

I only ask because as I see some of the raptors SH has as patients, and hear the stories told by the rehabber and his primary assistant, seem to indicate that raptors definitely have personalities, and the ability to distinguish among humans, at least.

We cared throughout the summer for a Great Horned Owl with a terrific wing injury. This was one nutzo owl, who earned herself (we assume it was female as the size was enormous!) the name of Maddie -- for a mad, crazy owl. GHOs are known for being cantakerous at the best of times, but this gal was downright vicious!

Her injury required nightly therapy, meaning the injured wing was inspected each night, with medication applied as needed, and then exercised. The wing would be gently held and extended, over and over, to prevent the muscles from atrophy while healing.

This owl was very tolerant of John the rehabber, but obviously HATED Lisa! No matter which one was holding her (while the other exercised the wing), she always grabbed at and tried to bite Lisa. Lisa even has a small scar on a uniquely female feature to prove it -- and the bite broke skin in spite of wearing a heavy vest to prevent such occurences.

There IS a good ending to this story: in spite of the fears that her wing injury was so severe that she'd never fly again, Maddie was released to the wild about 3 weeks ago.

But at Soarin' Hawk, she'll live on in the legends we'll tell about the crazy birds (all raptors) that we see as patients.

Myself being a Falconer this really a interesting question.
I would not consider birds of prey to be dumb. During training food is at the root of the bond that the falconer has with the bird. They learn to trust us or allow us to be near. Repetetive actions like flushing game and food on the fist are things that they remember. I would not call that intellegence as in the human sense. They don't remember it because they are smart. They come to the fist because during training there was food.

Kenlaugh Lewis

Beverly's comment regarding the bird's like/dislike of a person depending on that person's gender reminded me of something I have heard in the past. Some rehabbers I have had contact with also mention this phenomenon. Certain birds seem to have a definite like or dislike for men or women, whatever the case may be. I do not think the rehabbers have come up with a reason why the birds exhibit this characteristic. Some birds just seem to be orientated this way.

Larry

I have a friend that is a rehabber and she has a Great Horned Owl. This owl does not like my friends husband at all. She makes all these hissing and spitting noises at him and even tried to jump on him when he comes to feed her. He has a deep voice and a set of very large hands. She is the only one that can handle the bird and when she is holding the owl the owl is constantly looking around to see if he is near.

I'd just consider this: Whats smarter, the thing processing thoughts through its head while sitting there, or the thing playing with a shiny toy thoughtlessly?

Steve G: on the "Planet Earth" series Mountains episode, there is amazing footage of a pair of Golden Eagles successfully hunting migrating Demoiselle Cranes in flight.

Gosh I wonder how that red tail on TV ever learned to steal a bra for that beer commercial?
Really I did some volunteer work at the Delaware Valley Raptor Center and I can assure you that I feel most raptors are like us humans and some are smarter than others. Like someone else said about the owl well I know an eagle just like that and his name is Benson and you can ask all the questions you need to know about this from the owners of the center as they are excellent rehabbers and falconers. I have bee on many rehab programs with them getting a bird like an eagle back to strength for release. Their web is on my home page and just click on it and ask your question.
www.loubuscher.com
Lou

unless those birds can fly, live prey does nothing for them.good idea though, i was thinking that too. give them alittle exercise.