Birds of a Feather Resist Together: Sociality and Species Predict the Resilience and Recovery Strategies of Two Neotropical Birds

TL;DR

This study explores how two bird species in urban areas recover from disturbances, finding that social behavior and species differences influence their resilience.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel approach to understanding urban bird resilience by linking sociality and species traits to recovery strategies.

Findings

Sociality significantly enhances resilience in urban birds, with larger flocks more likely to habituate to disturbances.

Avoidance was the primary recovery strategy, but birds also used hypervigilance or waiting for disturbances to pass.

Ecological factors like urbanization level and microhabitat had no significant influence on resilience or recovery strategies.

Abstract

Behavioral resilience—the ability of animals to recover from disturbances—offers a valuable measure of how urban dwellers cope with human‐induced disturbances. In this study, we conducted behavioral trials across six study sites varying in urbanization level in Bogota, Colombia to assess the resilience and behavioral strategy that great thrushes (
Turdus fuscater
) and eared doves (
Zenaida auriculata
) employed to achieve it (i.e., recovery strategies). During the trials we measured initial escape responses (flight initiation distance or FID, and alert distance or AD), exposed individuals to a simulated disturbance (human running), and subsequently assessed whether, after the disturbance, they resumed foraging and/or changed their behavior along with their displacement to foraging patches. We also examined the influence of ecological factors such as distance to escape cover, microhabitat, urbanization, flock size, and species in both resilience and the recovery strategies of focal individuals. Our results showed that while most individuals were not resilient, sociality significantly enhanced resilience, with birds in larger flocks more likely to habituate to disturbances. Other factors, such as distance to escape cover, urbanization level and microhabitat did not influence the resilience or strategies employed by individuals. While avoidance was the primary recovery strategy, individuals also reduced their responsiveness, increased vigilance, or adopted a wait and see approach in response to the disturbance. These findings underscore the importance of social behavior and behavioral flexibility in shaping the resilience of urban birds to human disturbance.

Our study evaluated the foraging resilience of great thrushes and eared doves in urban environments, focusing on their capacity to recover from disturbances, the behavioral strategies they employed, and the ecological factors influencing resilience and recovery. We found that urban birds were generally not behaviorally resilient, but sociality and species were significant predictors of resilience, with eared doves in larger flocks being more likely to habituate to disturbances. Additionally, while avoidance was the primary recovery strategy, birds also employed hypervigilance, reduced responses, or waited for disturbances to pass, providing insights into how animals adapt to urban environments through behavioral flexibility.

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