Orientation, Cognition and the Avian Brain

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Research on spatial orientation has provided a wealth of new information and insights into cognition and its neural basis. Spatial orientation plays an important role in the lives of nearly all animals but is critical in the three groups of birds that are the focus of this research: food-storing birds, brood parasites and migratory shorebirds. Food-storing birds, like black-capped chickadees, establish thousands of spatially-dispersed food caches during the fall and winter. My previous research has shown that chickadees remember the locations of their caches and possess remarkable specialization of the hippocampus, a brain region involved in orientation and memory. The hippocampus of food-storing birds is larger than the hippocampus of non-storing birds and exhibits seasonal neurogenesis associated with food storing. Brood parasites, like brown-headed cowbirds, lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. Female cowbirds search for and remember the locations of potential host nests and have a larger hippocampus than males. Migratory shorebirds, like semipalmated sandpipers, fly 4000 km between their breeding areas in the Canadian arctic and wintering areas on the Atlantic coast of South America. This proposal describes research conducted under the previous Discovery grant on orientation, cognition and the brain of these birds and proposes new research examining: 1) Consolidation of spatial memory in the brain of food-storing birds, 2) Sex differences in spatial ability and numerical competence in brood parasites, and 3) The effect of migratory experience on two brain regions of migratory shorebirds, the hippocampus and Cluster N, a region involved in orientation to the earth's magnetic field. This research will advance our understanding of the fundamental brain mechanisms of orientation with results applicable to both animals and humans, will provide new insights into the cognitive processes of animals, and will lead to greater understanding and appreciation of the behaviour of native Canadian birds.