You might believe that mammals are the most diverse, intelligent and interesting organisms on the planet, but learning about the birds – phylum Chrodata, class Aves, with 40 extant orders – could change your mind.

During a lecture held for the first Enrichment in Fall Program (FEP), visiting biologist Professor Kimberly Smith from the University of Arkansas treated a KAUST audience of students, faculty, staff, and community members to an engaging and interesting look into the life and behavior of birds, those ubiquitous – and often overlooked – animals in our backyards.

"There are approximately 10,500 species of birds in 250 families," said Prof. Smith, "and although we thought most were discovered, new species are still being added through molecular analyses."

Over time these birds have developed many unique features, including feathers, bills (or beaks), a flexible upper jaw and egg laying during reproduction. Birds also have a vast range of sizes and weights; for example, the bee hummingbird of Cuba weighs in at only 1.6 grams, while the ostrich weighs over 130 kilograms and is 2.8 meters high. And as any observer knows, birds come in a variety of colors, some dull-colored, others vibrant, and some with iridescent feathers, but all feathers are made of keratin, the same material that makes our hair and nails.

"Feathers are vital to the biology of birds," explained Prof. Smith. Although we might see them as pretty adornments, feathers enable birds to fly, and also keep the warm-blooded (endothermic) birds warm through homeothermy, the maintenance of a stable internal body temperature. And bird feathers are not all one and the same: different types of feathers carry out different functions, such as the remiges, or flight feathers of the wing, and the down and semi-down feathers that help keep birds warm.

Birds may not be able to use hands and fingers to find food and eat it, but their bills, which come in many sizes and shapes, carry out that function spectacularly. Prof. Smith highlighted the bill of the flamingo, which, like the mouth of a baleen whale, can sift or filter food from the water. Other birds like the macaw, for example, have hooked beaks that allow the cracking of seeds and nuts, and scooping the flesh of fruits. In comparison, the crossbill is a finch that literally has a crossed bill, which is specially designed to remove the seeds from pinecones found in the high northern hemisphere.

Flight – that wondrous thing that fascinates humans – has been perfected by the birds. Birds' bodies are specially engineered for flight, with light feathers, a streamlined form, and pneumatic bones with many hollow, honeycombed spaces. They also feature fused bones, which helps enable them to withstand the stresses of flying and landing. Birds' muscles and internal organs are also centralized, enabling them to keep most of their mass near their center of gravity.

"You may have heard of the expression 'he has a bird brain' to describe someone who is not very smart," said Prof. Smith, "but I'm here to tell you that birds do not actually have bird brains – in fact, they are quite intelligent."

Prof. Smith noted the research work of Dr. Irene Pepperberg, an animal psychologist who studied the African Grey parrot Alex from 1977-2007. Perhaps one of the most famous birds in history, at the time of his death Alex had a 150-word vocabulary, could identify 50 shapes and objects, and could count object sets up to the number six.

But parrots are not the only "smart" birds: the corvids, members of the Corvidae family, have shown memory problem solving and tool use. For example, New Caledonia crows design specially sized tools to extract their insect dinners from trees, and Clark's nutcracker, also a corvid, stores and then re-locates later in the year 5,000 caches of up to 30,000 pine nuts to feed its young.

"The modern view is that bird brains are as complex as mammal brains," said Prof. Smith.

Although some birds like Alex can learn human words, birds have their own complex vocalizations and calls. "These enable them to communicate with flock members, mates, neighbors, and family members," explained Prof. Smith. But when you hear a bird singing, don't think the song is always that simple: males and females even sing duets together in a process "which facilitates pair bonding," Prof. Smith said.

And if humans feel child-rearing is complicated, they had best examine bird breeding and think again. "In Saudi Arabia, the African grey hornbill is a bird that has a unique reproductive strategy," noted Prof. Smith. "The male bird seals the female and her eggs into a hollow with mud until the chicks are reared. He passes food to her through a hole in the mud, and once the chicks are ready to emerge, he and the female break down the mud wall together."

Prof. Smith was delighted to visit KAUST, he said, because "the whole region of Saudi Arabia is very important in bird migration. Many birds migrate through the area in the spring and fall. This migration takes the birds from Africa to Asia and Europe in the spring, and they return in the fall." He noted that 500 million birds are estimated to pass through the Middle East twice a year. Prof. Smith has a special interest in bird migration, as at his current post at the University of Arkansas he is researching bird migration in South America through the organization Aves Internacionales.

A special part of the Enrichment in Fall program featuring Prof. Smith was a visit to the KAUST Golf Course to watch birds.

"The KAUST Golf Course is alive with birds," said Prof. Smith, "and I was truly impressed with the number of species we saw there. We saw at least six species of herons and quite a variety of shorebirds – and we even discovered a colony of nesting Ruppell weaverfinches, which was very exciting. This species is only found in the Arabian Peninsula."

Opening the eyes – and hearts – of the KAUST community to the many birds we share our lives with was a sure outcome of the bird watching trip and Prof. Smith's lecture. "Everyone was enthusiastic about seeing birds on campus," he said. "I'm always happy to invite people into the world of birds and help them become more interested in these fascinating creatures."

By Caitlin Clark, KAUST News

Related Links:

• fep.kaust.edu.sa
• wep.kaust.edu.sa