Locale-specific sugar packet opening by Lesser Antillean Bullfinches in Barbados

Abstract

Lesser Antillean Bullfinches Loxigilla noctis were observed opening packets of sugar on the grounds of a hotel on the west coast of Barbados. We presented closed sugar packets at 40 sites in 10 areas on the west coast, near the site where opening was originally observed, to determine whether the foraging behavior was localespecific. Bullfinches only touched, opened, and fed from sugar packets at the original opening site, suggesting that the behavior pattern was specific to that location.