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Birds are a highly diverse group of vertebrates who come in a wide range of forms and sizes, from large Common Ostriches to tiny hummingbirds, display a broad array of sociality ranging from highly social to solitary, and have evolved various adaptations that allow them to live in different habitats ranging from Antarctica to Namibia. They also have rich cognitive and emotional lives, so being called a “birdbrain” can be a compliment rather than an insult. I’m always trying to learn more about these fascinating beings and was thrilled to read a new, highly acclaimed book by award-winning evolutionary biologist Dr. Joan Strassmann titled The Social Lives of Birds: Flocks, Communes, and Families. My learning curve was vertical as I read this book, and I’m thrilled that she could take the time to answer a few questions about her journey into a wide variety of avian lives and what we can learn about ourselves.1
Marc Bekoff: Why did you write The Social Lives of Birds?
Joan Strassmann: I write about birds because I love them, others love them, and they inspire hope for conservation of the natural world. Habitat saved for birds also benefits insects, snakes, spiders, and plants. For me, slowing down and watching what birds do is wonderful, so I first wrote Slow Birding. That book espoused the joy of birding close to home. This book, The Social Lives of Birds, shares some of the most interesting things a slow birder might look for anywhere in the world. Watching social behavior is a lot of fun. With this book, I hope people will get a peek at why birds behave as they do and see if they can understand the birds they see.
MB: How does your book relate to your background and general areas of interest?
JS: I have been interested in social behavior ever since I was an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. It was an exciting time when biologists were just beginning to figure out how family cooperation evolved. However, my own research in social behavior began with social wasps for my Ph.D. at the University of Texas, and more recently has focused on the mysteries of cooperation in a social microbe. These organisms are great for figuring out the hows and whys of cooperation, but they are not so much fun to dream about, at least for most people. So my teaching of behavior has concentrated on birds. Birds are easy to see, behave in ways we can observe, and use visual cues we can understand, so they are great for students to watch. This book builds on my teaching experience and my research background to share what I love most about birds, their social behavior.
MB: Whom do you hope to reach?
JS: This is a book I hope will be fun for everyone. I have tried to share the stories of birds and of the researchers who study them in ways that should be accessible to anyone interested in the natural world. Talking about the researchers really makes the stories come alive. Imagine Christie Riehl balancing on a ladder in a boat with crocodiles in the water just to catch some Greater Anis in the trees overhanging the water. Learn about Rita Covas braving venomous boomslang snakes to uncover the reasons Sociable Weavers build thatch nests weighing tons. For those wishing to delve more deeply into the stories told here, there are references at the back, tied to numbers at the right places in the text.
MB: What are some of the topics you consider, and what are some of your major messages?
JS: Birds form groups for lots of reasons. Most people have seen flocks of birds foraging together in the grass, as I saw European Starlings this morning in my neighborhood park. While at first it might seem natural to be in a group since we humans so often group, there are actually costs to grouping. In groups, there are more competitors for food and a greater possibility of catching a disease or losing a partner to a competitor. The book begins with flocks and tells the stories of several kinds of flocks, including the Common Redshanks along the British coast, where they forage together to lessen the risk of falling prey to a Eurasian Sparrowhawk.
Other kinds of groups of birds include those that sleep together at roosts and those that form mixed-species flocks. For many birds, it makes sense to nest in colonies, like the Bank Swallows that nest in sand banks or the many seabirds that nest in huge colonies. These are also thought to do so to avoid predators. They often pay greater costs for sociality than birds in flocks do. They may lose their nesting materials to others or even lose their mates. I would love to witness the feather wars among Bank Swallows, where one feather might be repeatedly stolen.
If the first half of the book is about individuals or pairs benefiting from the crowd, the second half is about helping relatives in various ways. Males and females may look cooperative as they tenderly tend their young in a nest, but they are both looking out for their own interests, tending less when possible and often seeking mating opportunities outside the pair bond. Exactly how these work is one of the great stories of biology. And then there are helpers at the nest, communal breeders, and birds that do everything together.
A careful read of the book will help the reader understand what birds are doing and who they are doing it with. Birds may look cooperative and tender, but their interests are often self-interests, and when they are not, they are helping relatives. How this plays out in different species is a lot of fun to understand.
MB: How does your work differ from that of others who are concerned with some of the same general topics?
JS: There are many wonderful books on birds and their behavior. Some focus on migration, on intelligence, on sleep, or on specific species of birds. I am not aware of any like this one, which covers all the different ways that birds around the world interact socially and the reasons for these behaviors.
MB: Are you hopeful that, as people learn more about birds, they will increasingly treasure them and the habitats on which they depend?
JS: I like to think that with understanding comes consideration. I hope this book will give people ideas for things to look for as they watch birds. The more they see, the more they comprehend how vital natural habitats are for the birds, and then I hope they act to help conserve them.
