Do sunbirds use taste to decide how much to drink?

Nectarivorous birds typically consume smaller meals of more concentrated than of less concentrated sugar solutions. It is not clear, however, whether they use taste to decide how much to consume or whether they base this decision on post-ingestive feedback. Taste, a cue to nectar concentration, is available to nectarivores during ingestion whereas post-ingestive information about resource quality becomes available only after a meal.

Image analysis of weaverbird nests reveals signature weave textures.

In nature, many animals build structures that can be readily measured at the scale of their gross morphology (e.g. length, volume and weight).

Food preference and copying behaviour in zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata.

As a social species zebra finches might be expected to copy the food choices of more experienced conspecifics. This prediction has been tested previously by presenting observers with two demonstrator birds that differ in some way (e.g.

Physical cognition: birds learn the structural efficacy of nest material.

It is generally assumed that birds' choice of structurally suitable materials for nest building is genetically predetermined. Here, we tested that assumption by investigating whether experience affected male zebra finches' (Taeniopygia guttata) choice of nest material. After a short period of building with relatively flexible string, birds preferred to build with stiffer string while those that had experienced a stiffer string were indifferent to string type.

Neural correlates of nesting behavior in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata).

Nest building in birds involves a behavioral sequence (nest material collection and deposition in the nest) that offers a unique model for addressing how the brain sequences motor actions. In this study, we identified brain regions involved in nesting behavior in male and female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). We used Fos immunohistochemistry to quantify production of the immediate early gene protein product Fos (a molecular indicator of neuronal activity) in the brain correlated this expression with the variation in nesting behavior.