Rufous hummingbirds' memory for flower location
Article Abstract:
A new study investigates whether rufous hummingbirds have a memory for flower location.
Publication Name: Animal Behaviour
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0003-3472
Year: 2001
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Spatial memory in rufous hummingbirds: memory for rewarded and non-rewarded sites
Article Abstract:
Six male hummingbirds that had defended breeding territories around feeders since early May 1993 were observed during June and July, 1993. The subjects were marked with a spot of colored ink but not captured, and their spatial memory capabilities were studied. Results indicate that birds deliberately sampled flowers that they had not yet come across and retained memory for the sites of rewarded and non-rewarded flowers. They readily avoided locations that had previously been emptied and returned to flowers that had not been encountered, after only one short experience at the sites.
Publication Name: Animal Behaviour
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0003-3472
Year: 1996
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Memory for flowers in rufous hummingbirds: location or local visual cues?
Article Abstract:
Hummingbirds are capable of remembering locations and content of flowers and avoid visiting empty or recently emptied flowers. Findings suggest that rufous hummingbirds remember global spatial cues of flowers rather than color/pattern cues. Experiments reveal that samples chose the focal flower when the distractive flower was of a different color, whereas identification was poor when the flowers were similar. However, they alter their foraging tactics according to the local visual features of flowers, which they are able to discriminate and generalize.
Publication Name: Animal Behaviour
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0003-3472
Year: 1996
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