title: Who started first? Bird species visiting novel birdfeeders.
abstract: Adapting to exploit new food sources may be essential, particularly in winter, when the impact of food limitation on survival of individuals is critical. One of the most important additional sources of food for birds in human settlements is birdfeeders. At a large spatial scale, we experimentally provided birdfeeders with four different kinds of food to analyze exploitation and use of a novel food supply provided by humans. Nine species started foraging at the new birdfeeders. The species that exploited the new feeders the fastest was the great tit. Use of novel food sources was faster in urban habitats and the presence of other feeders reduced the time until a new feeder was located. Urbanization may be associated with behavioural skills, technical innovations and neophilia resulting in faster discovery of new food sources. This process is accelerated by the experience of feeder use in the vicinity, with a strong modifying effect of the number of domestic cats.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 71C, PL-60-625 Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tryjanowski
authors.affiliation: 1] Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Zielona Góra, Prof. Z. Szafrana St. 1, PL-65-516 Zielona Góra, Poland [2] Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning, Kamýcká 129, CZ-165 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Morelli
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Mickiewicza 33, PL-31-120 Kraków, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Skórka
authors.affiliation: Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities, Faculty of Natural Science, Department of Zoology, Prusa 12, 08-110 Siedlce, Poland.
authors.forename: Artur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goławski
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology and Landscaping, University of Science and Technology, Ks. A. Kordeckiego 20, PL-85-225 Bydgoszcz, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Indykiewicz
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, CNRS UMR 8079, Université Paris-Sud, Bâtiment 362, F-91405 Orsay Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pape Møller
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Rzeszów, Zelwerowicza 4, PL-35-601 Rzeszów, Poland.
authors.forename: Cezary
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mitrus
authors.affiliation: Department of Department of Vertebrate Zoology and Anthropology, University of Szczecin, Wąska 13, PL-71-412 Szczecin, Poland.
authors.forename: Dariusz
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wysocki
authors.affiliation: Department of Avian Biology &Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Umultowska 89, PL-61-614 Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zduniak
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006184:Habits; D006801:Humans; D012621:Seasons; D014507:Urbanization