House finches that frequent North American cities and towns are better at solving new problems than their rural counterparts. They are able to solve new problems even when humans are around, says Meghan Cook of Arizona State University in the US, lead author of a study in Springer’s journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. The study investigated how increased urbanization and human presence affects the behavior and foraging habits of wildlife, and how birds, in particular, cope.
House finches that frequent North American cities and towns are better at solving new problems than their rural counterparts. They are able to solve new problems even when humans are around, says Meghan Cook of Arizona State University in the US, lead author of a study in Springer’s journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. The study investigated how increased urbanization and human presence affects the behavior and foraging habits of wildlife, and how birds, in particular, cope.
The house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) is a songbird native to the desert areas of North America. It is found in urban and rural areas of Mexico and the southwestern parts of the United States. Since the 1940s, the house finch has also successfully adapted to city living in, for instance, New York. Its natural diet consists of seeds, fruits and buds, and in urban areas it also frequents bird feeders.
The research team captured and ringed 82 juvenile house finches from two sites in the Phoenix metropolitan area, and two other sites in nearby regional parks. The birds were then housed in captivity on the campus of the Arizona State University. About two weeks later the first trials were conducted in two identical animal-approved rooms, which were designed to minimize other disturbances. Each trial tested one bird at a time with no humans present. The second part of the experiment took place five weeks later after the birds had experienced different levels of human disturbance. All birds were presented with a small tin container covered with a sliding lid which was half-filled with sunflower seeds and attached to an empty food dish. This was done to see if the birds would successfully attempt to open the tin container to feed.
Read more at Springer
Picture credit: House finches © Kevin McGraw
