PBS’ ‘NOVA: Bird Brain’ takes studies of avian intelligence to new heights

When it comes to discussions of animal intelligence, birds are often left out of the conversation.

But different species of these often underestimated creatures can solve problems and puzzles, use tools, recognize their enemies, mourn their dead, communicate with one another in ways we can’t comprehend and work as a team to find food. So the next time you hear someone being called a bird brain, it could be construed as a compliment.

It also happens to be the subject of the latest edition of PBS’ “NOVA.” In “Bird Brain,” airing Wednesday, Dec. 20 (check local listings), researchers put these feathered creatures through their paces in a battery of tests to determine whether these abilities are the product of a higher intelligence, instinct or subtle cues from their human handlers.

What they found is that birds do indeed possess skills that even a four-year-old child would have trouble mastering, such as the abilities to empathize with each other or delay gratification for a bigger reward to come later – both thought to be exclusive to humans.

“When we showed the brain of a bird,” says “NOVA” senior executive producer Paula Apsell, “it’s organized in such a different way from our own brain. And usually we look at evolution as taking the structures that we have and developing them further. So that’s kind of the way we see evolution as a progression even though scientists always caution us not to. But here you have these animals that are so intelligent and yet their brain is structured completely differently from ours.

“So what does that really tell you about intelligence?” she continues. “I think it tells you ... that it’s really something that we don’t much understand, the relationship between intelligence and the structure of a brain.”

Among the most intelligent species is one seen in almost every backyard, forest and cornfield in America, the common crow. They can learn new skills, solve a variety of problems with and without the aid of tools, hunt for food in teams and, in one of the most striking sequences of the hour, mourn their dead.

For this, a researcher puts a decoy resembling a dead crow on a sidewalk. Within minutes, screeching crows fill surrounding trees, seemingly mourning a fallen friend.