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- Title
Urban Birds Using Insects on Front Panels of Cars.
- Authors
Jokimäki, Jukka; Kaisanlahti-Jokimäki, Marja-Liisa
- Abstract
Simple Summary: Urbanization changes the living conditions and resources of birds in many ways. One important resource is the availability and quality of food. Due to air pollution, there might be a lack of insect food for birds in cities. Our main aim was to study which species used this food source, how widespread it is and when it started. Our study indicates that seven urban species, especially sparrows and corvids (crows, jackdaws and magpies), use insects smashed on the front panels of cars in Finland. This behavior was detected for the first time during the year 1971 in Finland, about 40 years later than the first global observation made in London. In general, this behavior was concentrated on the urban parking places of hypermarkets with many cars and on late breeding phases of birds. It is possible that birds compensate for the lack of high-quality insect food in cities by using the insect material provided by the cars from the surrounding countryside. Urbanization influences the food availability and quality for birds in many ways. Although a great amount of food for birds is provided incidentally or intentionally in urban areas, the quantity of insect-based food can be reduced in cities. We studied the role of one artificial food source, insects smashed on the front panels of cars, in Finland, and more specifically in the city of Rovaniemi, by conducting questionnaire research, searching for data from databases and performing a field study. Our results indicated that a total of seven bird species have been detected using insects on the front panels of cars in Finland. However, this behavior is not yet common since about 60% of responders to the questionnaire stated that this behavior is currently either rare or very rare. Most of the observations identified House Sparrows, followed by the White Wagtail or the Eurasian Jackdaw. Only a few observations identified the Eurasian Tree Sparrow, the Hooded Crow, the Great Tit and the Eurasian Magpie. The phenomenon was distributed quite widely across Finland, except in the case of the Eurasian Jackdaws, for which observations were restricted only to the southern part of the country. The first observation was made about the House Sparrow in 1971, followed by the White Wagtail (1975), Hooded Crow (1997), Eurasian Jackdaw (2006), Eurasian Tree Sparrow (2011), Eurasian Magpie (2019) and Great Tit (2022). The species using this food source are mainly sedentary urban exploiters, such as corvids and sparrows, that have been previously reported to have several different types of innovative behaviors. Most of the observations were conducted in urban parking sites of hypermarkets, and no observations were made in residential areas. Most of the foraging observations were made during the end phase of the breeding season, partly supporting the extra need for high-quality insect-based food for nestlings and fledglings. Our observations indicate that this behavior is not yet common and widespread among species.
- Subjects
FINLAND; ENGLISH sparrow; GREAT tit; CITIES &; towns; INSECT food; CROWS; INSECTS; SPARROWS
- Publication
Birds (2673-6004), 2023, Vol 4, Issue 1, p15
- ISSN
2673-6004
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/birds4010002