Great Tit Birds Would Rather Forgo Food than Love

Great tit birds would rather forgo food than love, a recent study published in the journal Current Biology has shown. Research was conducted by a team of experts led by Josh Firth, at Oxford University’s Wytham Woods, located west of Oxford.

The experiment included a species of birds known as great tit (Parus major), which are commonly found in Europe, Central and Northern Asia, North Africa and the Middle East.

Automated bird feeders were employed, which had been rigged so that they could only provide food to some birds, while denying access to others, according to the radio frequency of the signal emitted by each individual tag.

More precisely, when birds were part of a pair, only one of them could be permitted to obtain food, while the partner tried to forage for nourishment to no avail.

It was determined that on many occasions great tit birds that were able to get their long-awaited meal preferred to sacrifice that, so that they could spend more time with their mates, after noticing that they couldn’t enjoy food together, at the same location.

Most birds opted to be at their partners’ feeding spot, simply in order to be in their company, even though they knew they couldn’t get any provisions from that station.

Therefore, it appears that to them love trumped sustenance even in winter months when access to sources of nutrition was extremely scarce.

The long-term goal of remaining with their chosen mate, in order to reproduce and benefit from support while raising chicks, was the one that birds focused on much more, as their priority.

This was to the detriment of other supposedly more immediate and vital purposes such as getting their required nourishment.

Also, some of the pairs actually designed a system through which both of them could eat using the same food dispenser.

After trying the feeder several times, they noticed that the identification tag could keep it unlocked for a couple of seconds. Therefore, as one bird used its individual signal in order to open the trap door, its partner tried to eat as much as it could in that short time span.

According to the scientists, this is an illustration of the fact that great tit birds use “cooperative strategy” in order to solve common goals, such as foraging for food together.

It also reveals how important it is to this species to be with their mates, and have them take advantage of the same benefits equally.

Researchers also discovered that the feathered creatures eventually became integrated in their partners’ flocks, because of spending so much time in each other’s company.

According to the study authors, this indicates that the group an individual bird is part of might not depend solely on its own preferences, but also on its partner’s wishes.

This is eerily similar to the way in which human beings who are romantically involved are soon assimilated into the social circle of friends and family corresponding to their loved ones.

It’s not the first time that ornithologists have revealed the strength of relationships in the bird kingdom. It is a well-documented fact that some avian species such as lovebirds mate for life, and others like eagles, cranes, swans and geese are known to be monogamous.

However, this new research suggests that attachment between birds can be even stronger than previously speculated.

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