title: Choice behaviour of red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus ) searching for food: The role of certain variables in stay and shift strategies.
abstract: This experiment examined the extent to which the food searching strategies of Red-winged Blackbirds are influenced by the age of the birds and by information about the food supply gained from a previously visited location. Birds entered a maze and were given a choice between the three parallel, foraging locations. After making its choice, each bird was either allowed to consume all of the food present at the site (depletion condition) or only some of it (non-depletion condition). All birds were tested under both conditions. After its first choice, each bird was subsequently re-tested to determine if it returned to the previously visited site or whether it chose an alternate site. Subjects were more likely to choose an alternate location after experiencing the depletion condition. Under the non-depletion condition, adult birds showed a strong predisposition to return to the initially chosen sites while immature birds only returned to those sites randomly. The results were related to the current theory of staying/shifting dichotomy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3A 1B1.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Beauchamp
authors.affiliation: Département de biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada J1K 2R1.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cyr
authors.affiliation: Département de biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada J1K 2R1.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Houle