Novel Foraging Behaviors of an Urban Bird, the Light-Vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis)

Urban environments expose animals to the situation with a greater diversity of novel stimuli, often promoting the emergence of innovative behaviors. Such behavioral plasticity is considered a key strategy that aids birds in adjusting to urbanization. Identifying cases of behavioral innovation across different species and behavioral contexts is crucial for understanding the ways in which birds adapt to urban environments. This study reports two novel foraging behaviors observed in the Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis), a common urban bird in southern China. In the first case, Light-vented Bulbuls were observed foraging on tree trunks in a woodpecker-like manner to capture insects; in the second case, Light-vented Bulbuls foraged on insect aggregations under artificial light at night. However, these behaviors have currently been observed only in a small number of individuals. It remains unclear whether these behaviors will become established through natural selection or spread throughout the population via social transmission and cultural inheritance, or they will extinguish with the individuals. Nevertheless, our findings provide new insights into possible behavioral adaptation strategies of Light-vented Bulbuls to urban environments.