Is this nature’s politest bird? Japanese tit uses wing movements to convey the message ‘after you’

Whether it’s a wave or a thumbs up, in the animal kingdom it’s usually just humans who make wordless gestures to communicate.

But new research from the University of Tokyo shows that a smart bird species – the Japanese tit (Parus minor) – does this too.

Scientists have discovered that it flaps its wings to tell its mate to enter the nest first – a polite gesture as if to say ‘after you’.

The biologists describe this as a refined form of ‘symbolic gesture’ that until now only primates were capable of.

The Japanese chickadee also produces sounds in a specific sequence to convey complex messages to each other, underscoring its claim as one of nature’s smartest birds.

“I have been studying these fascinating birds for more than 17 years,” said study author Toshitaka Suzuki, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo.

‘They not only use specific calls to convey certain meanings, but also combine different calls into sentences using syntactic rules.

‘These diverse vocalizations prompted me to initiate this research into their possible use of physical gestures.

‘In our latest discovery, we revealed that the Japanese chickadee uses gestures to communicate with its mate.’

Japanese great tits are closely related to the great tit species common in gardens in Britain and throughout Europe – Parus major.

Professor Suzuki said it is possible that this European species also exhibits this behavior, although “more birdwatching” is needed to confirm this.

In the spring, Japanese tits form mating pairs and build their nest in a tree cavity with a small entrance.

Professor Suzuki and his co-researcher Norimasa Sugita filmed the behavior of 16 birds (eight pairs in total) with young living in nest boxes in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.

When carrying small pieces to feed their nestlings, the birds enter the nest one by one.

But the researchers noticed that upon returning to the nest, the birds first found a perch nearby and then one flapped its wings toward the other.

Analyzing 321 of these nest visits, they saw that the wing-flapping display prompted the partner being fluttered to enter the nest box first, while the one that was flapping entered the nest second.

According to the team, the birds deliberately directed the flapping at their partner – and not at the entrance to the nest, as if to indicate where it was located.

Interestingly, the gesture was performed more often by the females, after which the male usually entered the nest box, regardless of which one arrived first.

When the female wasn’t flapping her wings, she usually entered the nest box before the male – indicating that the female dominates how the whole process unfolds.

‘On nest visits where both parents approached the nest at the same time, females performed wing flapping in 42 percent of cases, while males did so in only 6 percent of the time,’ Professor Suzuki told MailOnline.

‘We need further research to investigate why females flap their wings more often than males.’

Researchers call this clever wing flapping a “symbolic gesture” (a gesture that conveys messages) rather than a “deictic gesture” (a gesture that simply points to objects or other living things).

Their discovery challenges the previous belief that symbolic gestures – which require complex cognitive skills – are only prominent in humans and great apes.

Professor Suzuki’s research has already shown that this smart bird speaks in sentences to help find food or warn others in times of danger.

By combining calls, they produce messages that convey different meanings, such as “come here” or “scan for danger.”

The new research was published in Current biology.