Meeting Abstract
Identifying the nature of a songbird’s behavioral response to dynamic environmental conditions may help us understand their potential to cope with future environmental change. In this study, we compared the ambient environmental conditions during a species’ “normal” feeding behaviors to the conditions during displacement behaviors (an uncommon event where a bird removes another bird from the feeding perch). Our results show house sparrows (Passer domesticus) have the largest degree of variation in environmental conditions between normal and displacement feeding events, while eastern-tufted titmice (Baeolophus bicolor) have the least of the seven species studied. We also identified relationships between environmental conditions and specific species-species displacement encounters. Overall, these results help us map the nature of interactions between the environment and the behavioral plasticity of songbirds via this uncommon, but potentially important behavior.
