Pecking Order – the hierarchy at the feeders
Bird feeders act as central congregation points for local birds, but when they start panic buying, which species is top of the pecking order? A study carried out by the University of Exeter and the BTO suggests that heavier birds are more dominant at bird feeders, allowing species such as House Sparrows to gain superior access to higher “value” food that is either high in energy or efficient to consume (e.g sunflower hearts require less energy to eat than a sunflower seed with the husk still on). Goldfinches tucking into sunflower hearts - a high "value" food This idea of dominance was calculated by recording which of two feeders a bird visited (either a “low value” sunflower seed with husk feeder or a “high value” sunflower heart feeder), the length of time a bird spent on the feeder, how many pecks a bird made whilst at the feeder and the outcome of any interactions between birds of different species (i.e. would a House Sparrow displace a Blue Tit from a f