People tend view of avian intelligence to be somewhere between that of a rat and a mosquito. Although it has long been known that some birds display exceptional behavioral, such as migrating or homing over long distances, building elaborate nests, fashioning and using tools, or singing complex songs these behaviors were assumed to be primarily natural, requiring little in the way of flexible cognitive capabilities. Recent research in avian cognition has proved otherwise (McMillan, Hahn, Spetch, & Sturdy 2015).
Songbirds’ singing and calling behavior also known as communication is critical to their survival as individuals and as species. Males produce song to attract a mate and to defend their territory, while females attend to these songs