Researcher studies "thief" birds to explore adaptability in changing environments
If you eat at outdoor restaurants, you may have noticed opportunistic birds waiting for a chance to steal your chips. Turns out, that behavior might be a key to helping endangered species survive in changing environments.
Dr. Corina Logan, a senior researcher at UC Santa Barbara, is studying grackles, small birds that resemble crows, to better understand their adaptability and flexibility. During an interview on California Tonight, she said she chose the birds after noticing they were trying to steal her bread as she enjoyed picnics in Costa Rica parks. Clearly, this was a species that had adapted to humans, and the population was thriving.
To assess their flexibility and adaptability, she conducted what's called a reversal learning test with two remote-controlled dog feeders. One feeder was dark gray and the other was light gray. She released food from only one color at a time, and once the birds showed a preference for that color, she would reverse it. The birds had to be adaptable to keep up. By the end of the experiment, they could pivot quickly between the feeders.
"I basically trained them to b...