Human-bird Interactions Research Articles

Flight Distances of Black-Billed Magpies in Different Regimes of Human Density and Persecution

Vertebrate responses to human beings have both a learned and genetic component. The learned component is apparently influenced by both the number and outcome of individual human-bird interactions that occur within the animal's lifetime (e.g., Buitron 1983, Knight and Temple 1986). Some bird species have adjusted to high human density and have become urbanized (e.g., Cooke 1980). The ability of birds to coexist with humans is largely attributed to the absence of active persecution (e.g., shooting) (Knight et al. 1987). Outside of urban or protected areas, however, active persecution occurs, whether legally (e.g., hunting seasons) or illegally. In the presence of persecution it would be maladaptive to habituate to humans, and birds show avoidance behavior (Knight 1984, Knight et al. 1989). Terrestrial vertebrates may show variation to human intruders by altering flushing response and flight distance (Altmann 1958). Both are important behavioral attributes of organisms in that they affect survival and essential daily routines (e.g., foraging, social behavior). The Black-billed Magpie (Pica pica) is a common speies in Europe and western North America and has made the transition to an urban environment (Birkhead 1991). We examined two hypotheses pertaining to flushing response and flight distance in magpie populations in northeastern Colorado. First, in the absence of active persecution, we predicted that the flushing response and flight distance of magpies would correlate negatively with human density. Second, magpie flushing response and flight distance would be greater in areas with human persecution than in areas without persecution.