How are unwitnessed behaviours (such as an adult bird building a nest the chick never saw the construction of) passed onto the next generation?
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A lot of animal behaviors are instinctual. For example beavers have an instinct to build dams if they hear the sound of fast flowing water. It works out for them, but they’ll also start to build a dam if there is a loudspeaker playing water sounds. It’s an example of relatively simple fundamental behaviors building up to a big complex thing.
Other behaviors are learned. Either by the bird remaining with their parents and helping out the next years hatching before flying off on their own, or by watching adult birds do it and then practicing (weaver birds building nests is not an inborn instinct. Males will watch, try, fail and retry until they build a nest that a female accepts).
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