Sorry if the title sounds a bit pompous--but the idea is quite simple and I hope demonstrated elegantly by these two very recent examples:-
Over the past two days we have had reports back from the BTO of two birds, a Linnet and a Yellowhammer which have been shown by ringing to visit winter feeding stations at two farms which are just over a mile apart. So what? This doesn't sound too important given that we got really hot under the collar a few months ago when one of our Redwings was found thousands of miles away.
The Linnet was an adult male back in February 2019, when it was first ringed at one farm--and recently recaptured in April 2021 at another nearby. We don't know where the bird's breeding site is but we do know that it clearly has a knowledge of the area around Pattingham in south Staffs, and in particular the areas where farmers are putting out winter feed.
The Yellowhammer was first ringed in November 2020, at one farm, and retrapped at the other in April 2021.
By analysing lots of what at first sight appear to be unremarkable retraps scientists have built up a picture of how birds best utilize the food we put out. Essentially, they very cleverly spend their days during winter visiting several feeding stages in a sort of circuit; rather than spending all day at any one site-- even if it is permanently well stocked with seed. This may sound like a waste of time and energy, but a minute's reflection shows what a sensible strategy this is. To coin a very inappropriate saying--they don't put all their eggs in one basket!! Simply, by having a range of feeding sites which they move between, they don't get caught out if one of the feeding stations runs out of food--pretty simple really! The same happens in our gardens when the birds you see on the feeders at one time in the day are probably not the same as those at another time...........aren't birds brilliant!!!
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