Millicent Ficken Studied How Birds Play

This is Bird Note.

Millicent Fickin spent her career studying bird behavior and communication.

The first woman to earn a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell in 1960,

Fickin authored over 100 scientific papers.

She discovered that male hummingbirds have a whole repertoire of songs rather than

just one, outlined the linguistic differences between penguin species, and showed that

chickadees take turns singing in the morning.

She was also fascinated by how birds play together.

Play is one of the most mysterious activities of animals, Fickin wrote.

Her seminal 1997 article, Avian Play, was an exhaustive attempt to categorize these

behaviors.

One example was the Great Frigid Bird, a black sea bird with a prominent red throat pouch.

Fickin noted that young, great frigate birds swoop, pick up, and then drop leaves or other

floating objects.

She compared it to a kitten playing with a ball of yard, and suggested it might help

fledgling learn to catch jumping fish and even steal food from other birds.

Fickin found lots of evidence for Avian Play, but unlike mammals who sometimes play purely

for fun or social bonding, she showed that bird play almost always has a more pressing

purpose.

After practicing a skill, they need to survive.

For bird note, I'm Arianna Rimmel.

This episode is brought to you by Wild Delight Bird Food, which aims to support wild bird

populations with clean, nutritious ingredients in every blend, available at chuey.com.