Feeding behavior, birds

Colored Pastry to Study Feeding Behavior in Birds... 

Watch your birds every day for signs of ill-health, for example, hens that keep their heads down, eyes closed or refuse to eat, drink, or lay. Check their feed and contact a vet if signs persist. Only treat birds for parasites, such as worms or lice, as they occur. If you are keeping chickens for their eggs, watch out for broody behavior—birds that are reluctant to leave their nest box or become angry when they are disturbed. Remove any eggs and shut them out of their nest box for a few days. 

Keast, D., and L. G. Walsh. 1979. The use of ruthenium-103 for the determination of the rate of passage of food through the gut of captive wild birds. Int. J. Appl. Radiat. Isot. 30(8) 463-468. Kirby, H. V. 1971. Effect of temperature on the feeding behavior of Daphma rosea. Limnol. Oceanogr. 16(3) 580-581. P ]... 

Feeding repellents for pest birds are the most important application of chemical stimuli to manipulate bird behavior. Methyl anthranilate (Fig. 13.1) and dimethyl anthranilate, esters of benzoic acid, are found in concord grapes and are used as artificial flavorings. Starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, have an aversion to methyl anthranilate, which irritates the trigeminal nerve, and they feed less on food flavored with a variety of anthranilates. They avoid the more volatile anthranilates most. The odor is partly responsible for the effect contact is not necessary. In one particular experiment, only volatile compounds were aversive (Mason and Clark, 1987). If only anthranilate-treated food is offered, the birds will accept more of the flavored food than they do if they offered a choice between... 

Squirrels, but also birds such as jays, bury acorns in the ground to cache them as winter food. By this behavior, they also disperse the acorns and start the germination process by exposing the acorns to soil moisture. Burying protects acorns from surface-feeding competitors such as deer, ruffed grouse, and turkeys. It also prevents other squirrels from pilfering the stores, provided the owner remembers where he had buried the seeds, and other squirrels are not attracted by the odor of the buried seeds. 

This test probably would not pick up long-term effects caused by bioaccumulation. Populations of animals can also be decimated by chemical effects that do not kill the animals (e.g., the egg shell thinning of birds at the top of the food chain, feminization of males, and behavioral changes, such as not feeding or protecting the young, or losing the ability to avoid predators). 

The effects of prior experience on taste preference behavior of the fowl was demonstrated ( ) by the fact that ascending versus descending series of preference test concentrations yield vastly different data. The importance of prior experience was confirmed by Davidson (8 ) who reported on preference behavior of various bird species toward berries and seeds in natural settings. He has suggested that low consumption of a new food item by many bird species for 1-10 days is of no particular significance. Thus, certain avian species may be extremely slow to change their normal feeding habits. 

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