Most research on bird feeding compares feeders with food to feeders without, but what happens when food is available only sometimes? In this episode, we unpack findings from the Behavioral Ecology article “Consistency in supplemental food availability affects the space use of wintering birds” by Mady et al. (2021).
In a controlled experiment across nine forest sites in New York, researchers tested how three familiar feeder species - black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice, and white-breasted nuthatches - respond when feeder food is:
* Constant (available every day)
* Pulsed (available three days per week)
* Absent (feeder present but empty)
The results were striking:
* Constant feeding strongly anchored birds near feeders, reducing how far and how often they moved (page 1–3).
* Pulsed feeding created temporary “rush hours”, with birds concentrating near the window bird feeder only when food was available (Figure 3 on page 5).
* Later in the season, birds began checking feeders even on “no-food” days, suggesting learning or reliance on cached food (Figure 5 on page 7).
This episode breaks down what these behavioral shifts mean for winter survival, energy budgets, and the ecological impacts of human feeding habits.
