It is wiser to find out than to suppose.

— Mark Twain

Dear Gary:

You knew I’d chime in to your request for a list of most and least intelligent birds.

For proof of intelligence, most people would have to rely on scientists who have performed numerous studies on various species of birds. Irene Pepperberg’s decades-long study of the African gray parrot has clearly shown the parrot’s ability to answer complex questions such as, “What matter?” “What color?” “What different?” Amazing intelligence, and we marvel at it because they “speak English” to answer the questions.

The studies done with crows and ravens prove an uncanny ability to use tools and solve problems, like pulling up a string with a morsel of food at the end. I personally have a relationship with the wild crows on one street that I frequent because they roost above the road waiting for a car to drive over their purposely dropped nuts. I always aim my tires to accommodate them!

But I draw my conclusions personally because I work and live with many parrots. I experience, on a daily basis, how interactive and interpersonal their relationships are with people and the others around them. They have an ability to comprehend their surroundings and comment on them clearly, in context, in English. Just try to eat something near a parrot without him asking for a bite or asking you if it’s good. While I distribute the water bowls to the cages, many parrots will
announce my arrival by declaring, “water!” If I am doing something in an adjoining room that makes noise, my gray or my cockatoo will ask me, “What are you doing?” and they truly want to know!What is intelligence and what is instinct? What is learned over eons of development to survive is not the same as what is learned by intently experimenting with something new to discover its benefits. My cockatoo, Chauncey, can quickly turn complex mechanisms to retrieve his food from foraging units in his enclosure. To keep his incredible mind challenged, this is the only way he gets his food. However, his instincts make him flinch wildly if he perceives something new has been added to his environment.

You’d think his intelligence would quickly come to terms with the new item, but his instincts are built in to react to keep him alive and safe. Once it is determined that the new item won’t eat him, he investigates it to see what it can do for him.

So, my vote for most intelligent bird is the parrot. To be more concise, the African gray and the slender billed cockatoo. The fact that they are so intelligent and long lived makes them extraordinarily challenging companions, not pets, that last a lifetime. Be aware that they are messy, loud and very high maintenance, but the relationship with a parrot is unlike any other. One reason for this is their high intelligence.

As for least intelligent, I know a flock of turkeys “… but I won’t go there. They’re too beautiful to bash.

Gayle Reece, Parrot Nanny, Lafayette

Dear Gayle:

Having a parrot ask you to change the TV channel to watch “Monday Night Football” is a tough act to follow, but other birds are also quite bright.

A Cooper’s hawk had bad luck hunting birds on my backyard feeder because they always saw her coming and hid. One day the hawk dropped to the ground from the fence, tiptoed under the bushes clear across the yard until she was directly under the feeder “… then flew straight UP to snatch one of the unsuspecting songbirds.

How’s that for problem solving? Pretty smart.

(Everyone: Send me your lists of the five MOST and five LEAST intelligent birds. I’ll compile the results here.)