Presentation Details
| Hummingbird Visitation and Aggression at Feeders of Varying Sugar Concentrations Anya E.Mitton-Fry1, 2, 3. 1The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.2Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, USA.3School for International Training, Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador |
Abstract
Animals are expected to preferentially exploit high-quality food sources to maximize net energy gain when foraging and may defend these sources to maintain access. Hummingbirds (family Trochilidae) face high metabolic costs and rely on frequent feeding bouts, and many will defend food sources through aggressive behaviors. This study manipulated sugar concentration (20%, 10%, 5%) in three closely located hummingbird feeders and measured hummingbird visitation and aggression. I predicted that the 20% sugar feeder would receive the most visits and have the highest ratio of aggressions per visit. There was a significant difference in the mean number of visits per day at the 20% sugar feeder compared to both the 10% and 5% sugar feeders. The ratio of aggressions per visit was highest at the 20% sugar feeder and was significantly different than that of the 5% sugar feeder. This indicates that high-quality resources are exploited more and suggests that variation in resource defense may only be noticeable when there is a large difference in resource quality. These results provide insights into hummingbird foraging behavior and the impact of resource quality on aggression.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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