Memory for hoarded food: An aviary study of the european nuthatch

Abstract

In an aviary study, each of six male European Nuthatches Sitta europaea was allowed to hoard 30 sunflower seeds in natural hoarding substrates. After eight days, each bird was allowed to search for its cached seeds and its performance compared with that of a bird without previous experience of the specific aviary. In all but one case, the hoarder found significantly more seeds than did the naive bird and the hoarder also found the first seed significantly sooner. Furthermore, hoarders found a fixed number of seeds more quickly than did naive birds. These results suggest memory of cache sites. © The Cooper Ornithological Society 1997.