The "higher-order" processes such as executive control -- the ability to plan, set goals, reason -- we tend to believe are evident only in ourselves and perhaps some non-human animals closely related to ourselves -- mammals all. Recent studies however, are starting to reveal surprising abilities in birds. One such study, using pigeons (doubtless from the very same pigeon lab I helped set up such a long time ago! for this comes from my own alma mater), has found evidence of working memory or at least some type of cognitive activity associated with executive control, involving the nidopallium caudolaterale, a region of the avian brain considered analogous to the mammalian prefrontal cortex. Another blow in the coffin of human uniqueness!