“My bird has a taste when it comes to music”
Avian Brain and Their Auditory System
The phrase “bird brain” has long been used to describe a stupid person. Nevertheless, scientific studies centering on the avian brain dispute the idea that the bird brain is inferior by proving that birds are “capable of sophisticated cognitive, social and motor behaviors [and] it is not surprising that they possess large and complex brains.” (Reiner, 2005, p.1) Contrasting to the bias, birds have a well-developed brain, and their ability of striking vocal learning and song production is only one of their astonishing traits.
Avians can discriminate the sound frequencies although their optimum range is moderately narrow, ranging from 1000 to 4000 Hz. “The avian auditory system begins at the bird’s ears and ends in what is referred to as higher or secondary auditory areas in the forebrain. These two end points are connected by a series of auditory processing stages…very similar to the mammalian auditory system.” (Theunissen F.E. 2008) Depending on the frequency of the sound wave, the displacement of the traveling wave in the basilar membrane can vary.
In a research article written by Micah R. Bregman, Aniruddh D. Patel, and Timothy Q. Gentner, it is stated and proved through certain experiments that “songbirds can easily learn to discriminate between sequences of several tones (say, ascending vs. descending sequences of four pitches or between the opening phrases of two different human melodies)” and because of their ability of relational processing, they can distinguish between different tones and different tempos. (Bregman et al., 2016)
Musical Tastes of Birds
Just like humans, birds can also find music rewarding. Avians are observed to be attracted mostly to conspecific songs — sounds made by the same species as another. According to two researchers from the Emory University, Sarah E. Earp and Donna L. Maney, “(f)emale pied flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) and European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) approach and enter nest boxes containing speakers playing male song (Eriksson and Wallin, 1986; Gentner and Hulse, 2000), and female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) will peck a key to hear male song (Riebel, 2000).” In addition to these findings, many research also shows that the bird brain responds to a song in the same areas as human brains.
In 2016, artist Elizabeth Demaray collaborated with computer scientist Ahmed Elgammal to develop a music streaming bird feeder (see Figure 1). The feeder plays songs and once a bird starts to eat from the feeder, the attached Raspberry Pi — a modular-size computer — photographs the birds. After the photograph is taken, the code identifies the species, while keeping track of the time birds stay on the feeder. The result of this project is that “More birds flocked to the feeder when Debussy was playing than when there was silence. Also, Metallica seemed to attract house finches more than house sparrows.” (Voon, 2016)
As with humans, birds also have personal preferences in music. A budgie might prefer listening to opera and her mate might prefer heavy metal!
An Experiment with Cankus
My budgie, Cankus, lives in an environment where there is non-stop music: someone always plays the piano, the drums, or the cello. It was unquestionable that he knew that there was music in the room; he was reacting to it in various ways. The unknown was if he recognized different music and if he had preferences. To answer this question, I created a compact experiment at home.
First, I created a playlist with numerous songs from many genres. I played the playlist from the top and observed his changing behavioral patterns. If he liked the songs, he would either make a sound of high and low notes or show that he is peaceful with his body language. If he had fluffed feathers (see Figure 2) and stood on his one feet (see Figure 3), it meant that he was comfortable. In general, standing on one leg in the wild slows down birds’ escape response against the predator. Therefore, if Cankus was standing on one leg, it indicated that he was relaxed and felt safe in the current environment. If he didn’t enjoy the song, he would be giving his attention to something else, most probably his swing. His feathers would be in regular form.
After this at-home experiment was completed, I concluded that Cankus has a mixed taste when it comes to music. Although he hated the song called “The Master”, he loved the song “Do Bad Well”, from the same genre. He also enjoyed classical music like “Vivaldi Variation” and “Nocturne Op. 9 №2”. When playing the cello cover of the song “Halo” by Brooklyn Duo, Cankus showed the most positive reaction compared to his reaction to all the other songs (see Figure 4). This convinced me that he prefers instrumental music that has a very similar range as the human voice. The songs that he disliked or was neutral towards were removed from the playlist, leaving the songs that only got positive reactions.
You can access the playlist of his favorite songs from here. (https://tinyurl.com/playlistCankus)
The next step in this compact experiment is giving Cankus the opportunity to pick the song he wants to be played using colored objects. Because avians are capable of differentiating colors, they can be trained to associate different colors with different actions or objects. In Cankus’s case, various colors of clips will be presented to Cankus (see Figure 5). Each color will be matched with a different song. When he interacts with one of the clips, the matched song will be played. By repeating the process, he will be trained to use the colors to play his preferred songs.
The next step in this compact experiment is giving Cankus the opportunity to pick the song he wants to be played using colored objects. Because avians are capable of differentiating colors, they can be trained to associate different colors with different actions or objects. In Cankus’s case, various colors of clips will be presented to Cankus (see Figure 5). Each color will be matched with a different song. When he interacts with one of the clips, the matched song will be played. By repeating the process, he will be trained to use the colors to play his preferred songs.
Conclusion
Avian species are well-developed in terms of their auditory system. With their complex cognitive abilities, they are capable of identifying different kinds of music, and even having their own preferences. Cankus is only one example showing that birds have an enhanced musical cognitive ability. Studies are continuing to be yielded to find more about the avian brain and the musical abilities of different species.
Resources
Birds’ eye view is far more colorful than our own. YaleNews. (2011, September 12). Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://news.yale.edu/2011/06/22/birds-eye-view-far-more-colorful-our-own.
Earp, S. E., & Maney, D. L. (1AD, January 1). Birdsong: Is it music to their ears? Frontiers. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnevo.2012.00014/full.
Fee, M. S., & Scharff, C. (2020, October 13). Figure 2 avian brain nuclei related to song control. the motor pathway… ResearchGate. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Avian-brain-nuclei-related-to-song-control-The-motor-pathway-is-necessary-for-song_fig2_49658430.
Lipkind, D. (2011). Vocal and auditory pathways of the songbird brain. ResearchGate. Retrieved 2021, from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dina-Lipkind/publication/50850449/figure/fig2/AS:305800489783297@1449919926330/Vocal-and-auditory-pathways-of-the-songbird-brain-A-The-vocal-pathway-which.png.
Neural control of bird song learning. CornellCast. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://www.cornell.edu/video/neural-control-bird-song-learning.
Ray, C. C. (2017, June 19). Do birds listen when you play music? The New York Times. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/science/do-birds-listen-when-you-play-music.html.
Voon, C. (2016, November 15). Identifying the musical tastes of birds. Hyperallergic. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://hyperallergic.com/337111/identifying-the-musical-tastes-of-birds/.
Weaver, J. (n.d.). Song Circuit in bird brain contains map of space and Time. PLOS Biology. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1002159.
Theunissen F.E. (2008) Avian Auditory System. In: Binder M.D., Hirokawa N., Windhorst U. (eds) Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29678-2_503
Voon, C. (2016, November 15). Identifying the musical tastes of birds. Hyperallergic. Retrieved October 5, 2021, from https://hyperallergic.com/337111/identifying-the-musical-tastes-of-birds/.
Bregman, M. R., Patel, A. D., & Gentner, T. Q. (2016, February 9). Songbirds use spectral shape, not pitch, for sound pattern recognition. PNAS. Retrieved October 7, 2021, from https://www.pnas.org/content/113/6/1666.
