The roles of size and species on bird-bird encounters and feeding at a bird feeder.

Abstract

The social behaviors of birds at a bird feeder were observed, with special emphasis on the time original birds stay on feeders when joined by others or not, and the relative sizes of joiners and original birds. Feeding behaviors play an important role in the aggregation of birds throughout seasons. It was hypothesized that the comparative sizes of joiners and original birds would play a role in the length of time the original stayed on the feeder. It was also hypothesized that the species of birds is important in determining who will join or be joined. Finally, it was hypothesized that larger birds would feed longer than smaller birds when unjoined. The hypotheses were largely unsupported. The only significant difference found was that different species feed for different amounts of time. This finding and the others should prove exciting for future research.