Abstract

We examined whether plastic leg bands had short-term effects on foraging behavior in White-breasted Nuthatches (Sitta carolinensis), a species which, because of their very short legs and unusual habit of hanging upside-down on bark, may be particularly susceptible to deleterious effects of plastic bands. Ten nuthatches were outfitted with varying numbers of colored plastic bands and observed foraging in an aviary after two days of habituation. Wearing up to five plastic bands caused no detectable change in any of the variables measured: number of flights, body position, choice of foraging substrate, seed caching, seed hammering, and seed retrieval.

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