Mountain chickadees discriminate between potential cache pilferers and non-pilferers.

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Ecology
• Cognitive Ethology
• Avian Cognition

Background:

• Complex cognition in animals is often linked to intricate social behaviors.
• Food caching is a strategy to mitigate food competition in social species, but cache pilferage poses a significant cost.
• Sophisticated caching cognition in birds has primarily been observed in corvids, attributed to their sociality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if non-corvid food-caching species, specifically mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli), adjust caching strategies based on social context.
• To determine if chickadees can recognize and react to potential cache pilferers (conspecifics and heterospecifics).
• To assess if chickadees discriminate between caching sites based on their visibility to observers.

Main Methods:

• Experimental setup where chickadees cached seeds in an arena with observers positioned to represent potential pilferers or non-pilferers.
• Caching sites were manipulated to be either visible or hidden from the observers.
• Chickadee caching choices were recorded in the presence of conspecific and heterospecific pilferers (red-breasted nuthatch) and a non-pilferer (dark-eyed junco).

Main Results:

• Chickadees preferentially chose caching sites hidden from the direct view of potential pilferers.
• When potential pilferers were absent or replaced by a non-pilferer, chickadees cached seeds in visible sites without preference.
• No significant difference in the total amount of caching was observed in the presence or absence of pilferers.

Conclusions:

• Mountain chickadees demonstrate the ability to recognize potential cache thieves, including both conspecifics and heterospecifics.
• Chickadees adjust their caching strategies to minimize pilferage by selecting hidden sites when pilferers are present.
• The study suggests that chickadees control visual information available to potential pilferers by choosing appropriate caching locations.