Interpreting Avian Play, Murmurations of Common Starlings and Oology

Abstract

Within Chap. 6 I provide details of three ornithology related areas of enquiry that could usefully be investigated using a mapping sentence approach. As I have noted throughout this book, avian scientists face challenges when they design avian research projects that attempt to capture the influences of multiple variables within a complex behavioural domain. In this sixth chapter, I again provide information about the facet theoretical approach to conducting research and make suggestions regarding the use of the mapping sentence in avian studies, and I contend that the mapping sentence possesses great utility for ornithologists as it provides a framework for the development of cumulative and comparable knowledge about avian behaviour. To support these claims, I provide illustrative examples of the employment of a mapping sentence in three avian research situations: the formation of murmurations by starlings, avian play and the classification of birds’ eggs.

Common starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) are a well-known species of bird present in most urban and rural locations in Western Europe, North America and many other regions. One of the behavioural characteristics of this species is that it roosts communally, sometimes in great numbers. This is not an uncommon behaviour in other species, but what is less frequently observed in other species is the habit of these enormous flocks, or murmurations of common starlings, to fly in great weaving clouds before they settle to sleep and then for all of the birds to drop to their roosting place within a few seconds. In the first of my examples, I present details of a facet theory research project which is attempting to capture the intricacies of birds’ behaviours by simultaneously considering the effects of multiple variables upon the formation of murmurations in the setting in which these behaviours occur. I will consider the plurality of theories for the formation of murmurations, and I also propose a mapping sentence for the investigation of this behaviour.

Avian play is another example of complexity in birds’ behaviour. There have been several propositions as to the role and function of playing in birds, and many different species of birds have been investigated in this context. In this chap. I consider overlapping variables associated with avian play, and I offer a mapping sentence approach for defining play, which attempts to understand the complexities in the interactions between play-related variables.

On a superficial level, birds’ eggs are relatively similar in appearance and structure. However, detailed inspection reveals eggs to be varied and complex. Ornithologist Tim Birkhead is perhaps better classified as an oologist as he has conducted many research studies in attempts to better understand birds’ eggs. His research will form the basis of my writing in this chapter and the mapping sentence that I propose in this chapter for the investigation of birds’ eggs and for the development of oological knowledge.

It is my aim in this chapter to demonstrate the breadth of avian research topics to which mapping sentences may be applied.