Hierarchies and co-occurrences among bird species visiting a feeder at an urban garden of Venezuela

• Andrés E. Seijas Universidad Nacional Experimental de los Llanos Occidentales “Ezequiel Zamora” (UNELLEZ)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5945247

Keywords: birds, co-occurrences, feeder, hierarchies, urban garden

Abstract

Compared to the vast literature that has been generated in developed countries, research on birds that attend feeders in private gardens in the Neotropic are very scarce. This article analyzes the interactions among birds visiting a feeder in a private garden in the city of Guanare, Venezuela. Bird activities were recorded in 336 videos for an effective recording time (ERT) of 51.82 h, equally distributed between the dry and rainy seasons. Twenty species visited the feeder with the Blue-gray Tanager (Thraupis episcopus) representing 40.3% of visits. Bird visits during the rainy season (3,975) were 59.5% higher than those of the dry season (2,493). Taking the two seasons together, the feeder remained without birds 45.5% of the ERT and of the 28.25 hours in which at least one bird was present, 80.2% was occupied by solitary individuals. Solitary individuals of Cacicus cela, Turdus leucomelas, T. nudigenis and Mimus gilvus amounted to 50.5% of the time the feeder was in use; these species also showed a high percentage of exclusive occupancy of the feeder (%Exc, not shared with other species) reaching to 96.6% in the case of M. gilvus. The hierarchy of the species in their access to the feeder was positively correlated with their size (Spearman’s rank, r = 0.87). Relatively large species (≥ 54g) won interspecific interactions in proportions above the expected by chance. Of 55 possible pairings of species co-occurrences at the feeder, 7.3% had positive associations, 30.9% negative associations, and 61.8% random associations. Negative associations always involved at least one large species, whereas there were not negative associations between pairs of small bird species. The size of the species is a determining factor in structuring the assemblage of birds visiting the feeder.

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