Behavioral Adaptation of Baby Birds in the Nest

Imprinting

• Imprinting is one of the best-known behavioral adaptations of baby birds. Associated with a chick's ability to identify its parents, imprinting is a learning process that allows baby birds to identify their own species. The imprinting process determines much of the birds' future behavior: rituals of courtship and mating will be directed at the species the bird has imprinted on. Imprinting also determines a bird's habitat preferences, and in predatory birds, determines how they attack their prey.

Predator Recognition

• Learning to recognize predators and other dangers is one of the first lessons baby birds need to master. Some species of birds are born with innate knowledge of predator markings and poisons. Baby chickens, for example, naturally avoid black and yellow prey, the color markings found on many poisonous caterpillars. Over time, baby birds add to their natural instincts through experience and observation, learning what to avoid by watching adults birds of their species.

Begging Calls

• Baby birds are often fiercely competitive with each other in the nest, struggling for the largest share of food from their parents. In some cases, baby bird siblings learn to compete for food through begging calls. For example, baby barn owls use begging calls to jockey for position. The chick with the loudest cry is the one that gets the prime location during feeding, and with that, the most food from the parent.

Brood Parasites

• Brood parasites, such as the cuckoo and the cowbird, are species of birds that lay eggs in the nests of other birds. The nesting bird typically raises the foreign chick as its own. The offspring of brood parasites develop behavioral adaptations to ensure their survival by eliminating competition from the nesting bird's own babies. As chicks, brood parasites may evict the other eggs from the nest, kill their adoptive siblings directly, or dominate the other nestlings to monopolize food supply.