I have heard that crows are very smart. How do the other birds know how to follow each other? Birds never seem to be alone. It’s always a crow that comes first when I put bread out.
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Nobody really knows how in depth they can communicate. Birds are known to communicate through gestures, through “song” (though we are less inclined to believe that they are “speaking” so much as signaling like a phone ringing).
Crows communicate physically. They will literally *show* their peers how to finish a puzzle rather than “talk” at them about it.
Instinct.
All animals, including humans, have certain innate understanding of body language and certain vocalizations (laughing, cries of surprise or terror, aggressive posturing, a baby crying, etc.). All animals can also learn to react to newer and more nuanced cues, but it’s just humans have *extremely* advanced, specialized brains that can learn vastly more complex forms of communication. We tend to assume other animals do as well, but this is largely a mistake, and no other animals are currently known to be able to “talk” to each other like we do on that sort of level.
In bird’s cases, though we’re not yet sure if exactly how much they can learn (some birds are extremely intelligent and adaptable), they are able to observe and learn behavior that gets them food or avoid danger, but mostly behave on that more instinctual level.
My hens have different clucks and cries for finding a food source, for alerting each other to danger (hawks in the sky, a snake in the henhouse, etc), or for communicating mood or if they’re in pain or content. They have also learned how to “read” me and if I look like I’m holding a handful of treat grains, the one that noticed calls the rest over.
A lot of it doesn’t require any communication. Every individual just behaves in a way that results in them forming shoals, swarms, flights etc.
Let’s say you’re a group animal. A sparrow, a tuna, a zebra. You can’t see the entire group from your perspective but you can see the animals nearest to you.
That means that the safest place for you to be is in the centre of your local group.
You also have places to be. If it’s early in the morning, you might be heading to a familiar feeding ground. If it’s late at night you might be heading for your nesting spot.
Even if you don’t know what you’re doing, you want to stay near that centre of your local group. So if some of the other animals know where they’re going, for example because they spotted a food source, the rest of the group will likely stick near these movers.
And of course, you want to avoid certain things like obstacles, environmental dangers and predators.
That’s why groups of animals are always kind of swarming, going this way and that instead of beelining for a goal. Flocks of birds through the sky, shoals of fish through the water. None of them are really communicating with each other. They’re all behaving according to individual behaviour that compels them to stick together while also moving towards things that interest them like food or shelter.
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