Social interactions of wild granivorous birds towards experimental feeders in the semi-arid scrub of northern Chile

Abstract

We studied aggressive behaviors of birds influenced by artificial feeders with seeds in a semi-arid region of Chile. In eight experimental feeders we recorded 1,118 social interaction events, which included 366 aggressive behaviors (32.74 %). This resource caused social instability in some species, suggesting comparative differences in the expression of agonistic behaviors. In addition, the 34.78 % of the granivorous birds described for the study area used the feeders, which indicate that they are not suitable to assessing species richness.