1. Sugar packet opening by noisy miners (Manorina melanocephala): a novel foraging behavior
- Author
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Delgado-V., Carlos A. and Correa-H., Juana C.
- Subjects
Honeyeaters (Birds) -- Food and nutrition ,Foraging (Animal feeding behavior) -- Observations ,Biological sciences - Abstract
In 2013 and 2014, Noisy Miners (Manorina melanocephala) were observed consuming a human-provided food source. We describe here how individual Noisy Miners manipulated, opened, and fed from sugar packets found at an outdoor cafe. This is the first published observation of this behavior in this species. Further systematic observations of this feeding behavior are necessary to ascertain how frequent and localized this event is in this species of honeyeater. Received 15 July 2014. Accepted 1 February 2015. Key words: Australia, feeding innovation, foraging behavior, natural history, synurbanization., Noisy Miners (Manorina melanocephala; family Meliphagidae) are gregarious, aggressive and territorial honeyeaters found in Australia throughout Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and eastern South Australia (Higgins et al. 2001). [...]
- Published
- 2015