Entry Four: Biological Clocks of Birds
An observation that I’ve made about birds is that there are certain times in the day that birds are extremely noisy. Around 5 p.m the Hibiscus bush in my neighbor’s yard would be filled with chiping House Sparrows. It would continue for a while before it becomes quiet again. I’m not sure where they go but I’m just grateful that they are noisy all the time. Another example would be a Black Phoebe that visits my yard once in the morning and another time during the evening. It’s these patterns that help them ensure survival and reproduction.
It turns out that birds have a finely tuned biological clock that lets them know when to sleep, when to sing and perform other tasks. For songbirds, their biological clock lets them know when to sing and this helps be alert of predators around them or if there is potential mates around them. So, when the House Sparrows are noisy in my neighbors backyard they could be gather information or looking for mates (Cassone, 2012). Additionally, bird share the same higher cognitive skills but different structures in the forebrain. As a result, they learn the pattern of where to can find food just like other mammals (Cassone, 2012).The Black Phoebe probably developed a pattern to go to my backyard since I’ve seen it successfully catch bugs before.
Cassone, Vincent M., and David F. Westneat. “The Bird of Time: Cognition and the Avian Biological Clock.” Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, Frontiers Media S.A., 2012, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3309970/.
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