BioCognition is an integrated approach to understanding the biological basis of cognition in organisms throughout the animal kingdom, sitting at the crossroads of neuroscience and comparative cognition. In recent years there has been a plethora of such research in birds, for two reasons. First, it is recognized that birds display complex behaviors requiring sophisticated cognitive processes. Second, studies of the avian brain indicate that it is as complex as the mammalian brain, with both interesting anatomical similarities and differences from the mammalian brain. This symposium will bring together a diverse group studying processes such as acoustic communication, object processing, and spatial memory using techniques at many levels of analysis, from genes to behaviour.