Is Middle Child Syndrome for the birds?

One of these Zebra Finches is
probably screwed. Guess which.

Researchers at the University of Lancaster Enviroment Center recently studied over 100 Zebra Finches and have concluded that hatching order impacts how birds will behave in adulthood. (This study, by the way, might be as useful as someone blogging about being a Middle Child, but that’s a whole other discussion.) Armed with this knowledge, a Middle Child can’t help but wonder -- if birth order really does influence bird behavior, does this mean birds can have Middle Child Syndrome, too? Hopefully, further study will reveal the answer to this and other burning questions: Does the father Zebra Finch constantly remind the Middle-born Zebra Finch that he doesn’t fly as well as his older brother? Do the first-born and baby Finch gang up and blame the Middle Finch when the mommy Finch wants to know why the nest is such a mess? And are Middle Finches left alone in the nest while their whole family goes out for ice cream -- I mean worms? I can tell you one thing for sure. If birds do have Middle Child Syndrome, I’ll bet they’re the ones who randomly shit on your head.