Concerning Birds

Scientists are generally agreed that birds are the only living direct descendants of the dinosaurs. It is difficult to imagine a world without their endless variety and brilliantly colored plumage. They grace the sky with flight and fill the air with song. Here are the stories of some remarkable feathered friends.

Gertie the Duck is a world-famous mallard and an icon of Milwaukee history. The story of her heroic efforts to hatch six ducklings became an inspiration for many war-weary Americans near the end of World War II.

Gertie’s story unfolded as a daily serial in the local newspaper for 37 days, captivating the residents of Milwaukee, the state and eventually the country.

Gertie’s story began in April 1945 when Milwaukee Journal outdoor writer Gordon MacQuarrie reported that a mallard duck was nesting on a wood piling under the Wisconsin Avenue bridge. A total of nine eggs were laid and the duck kept vigil atop her nest despite throngs of visitors and motorists stopping on the bridge daily to check the progress of the expectant mother. Mother’s Day cards began arriving for the mallard, the Boy Scouts formed a Gertie Patrol and a Wisconsin Humane Society officer was stationed to watch the brood as six of the nine eggs eventually produced chicks.

Despite flooding, storms and fire on some nearby pilings, five ducklings and Gertie survived the ordeal.

Today a bronze sculpture of the mallard stands in downtown Milwaukee.

Alex (1976 – September 6, 2007) was an African grey parrot and the subject of a thirty-year (1977–2007) experiment by animal psychologist Irene Pepperberg, initially at the University of Arizona and later at Harvard University and Brandeis University.

Before Pepperberg’s work with Alex, birds were not considered to be intelligent as their only common use of communication was of mimicking and the repetition of sounds to interact with each other. However, Alex’s accomplishments supported the idea that birds may be able to reason on a basic level and use words creatively. Pepperberg wrote that Alex’s intelligence was on a par with that of dolphins and great apes. She also reported that Alex had the intelligence of a five-year-old human and had not even reached his full potential by the time he died. She said that the bird had the emotional level of a human two-year-old at the time of his death.

Listing Alex’s accomplishments in 1999, Pepperberg said he could identify 50 different objects and recognize quantities up to six; that he could distinguish seven colors and five shapes, and understand the concepts of “bigger”, “smaller”, “same”, and “different”, and that he was learning “over” and “under”.

Alex had a vocabulary of over 100 words, but was exceptional in that he appeared to have understanding of what he said. For example, when Alex was shown an object and was asked about its shape, color, or material, he could label it correctly. He could understand that a key was a key no matter what its size or color, and could figure out how the key was different from others. He asked what color he was, and learned “grey” after being told the answer six times.

Alex could even add, to a limited extent, correctly giving the number of similar objects on a tray. When he was tired of being tested, he would say “Wanna go back,” meaning he wanted to go back to his cage, and in general, he would request where he wanted to be taken by saying “Wanna go…”.

Alex died on September 6, 2007, at the age of 31. His last words to Pepperberg were: “You be good, see you tomorrow. I love you.” These were the same words that he would say every night when Pepperberg left the lab.

Commando was a pigeon used in service with the British armed forces during the Second World War to carry crucial intelligence. The pigeon carried out more than ninety missions during the war, and received the Dickin Medal (the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross) for three particularly notable missions in 1942.

Pigeons were used where radio communications had become highly dangerous. A small canister was attached to the pigeon’s leg, which contained the information that was being sent.

Commando served with the National Pigeon Service (NPS) during the Second World War. During his career, he made more than ninety trips into and out of German occupied France, carrying confidential messages. Messenger pigeons were carried into the war zones by British paratroopers, and released as needed with messages attached to fly home. He was noted for three missions carried out in June, August, and September of 1942, in which he carried crucial intelligence to Britain from agents in France, including the location of German troops, industrial sites and injured British soldiers.

For these three missions that Commando conducted, he received the PDSA Dickin Medal, which is considered to be the animals’ medal equivalent to the Victoria Cross, the highest military award for bravery in the UK.

On behalf of myself and my budgies Daisy and Jessie, thanks for reading about these incredible birds!