Great tits choose food over sex

Great tits delay morning song when given bird feeders

source: New Scientist vol 209 no 2794, January 8 2011 p15

Great tits delay morning song when provided with feeders. Valentin Amrhein from Basel University, Switzerland, studied great tits in a forest near Oslo, Norway. He taped birds singing the dawn chorus after two weeks with a feeder, comparing this with the singing of birds not provided with feeders. Birds with feeders started singing on average twenty minutes later. Male birdsong is believed to attract and defend a mate. Males with feeders may be too busy defending food to sing for females. Amrhein favours removing bird feeders during the spring. Females choose males on the basis of their songs, so changes in singing behaviour triggered by feeders could adversely affect great tits.
BI,FH