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30 June 2016 House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) Use Cars to Shelter
Laure Cauchard, Thomas Borderie
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

During winter 2015 in Montreal (Canada), we observed on two occasions a group of House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) hiding under the body of several cars, in the empty spaces between the wheels and the fender. On both occasions, it was either snowing or raining. This paper reports for the first time, to our knowledge, a description of birds using cars to shelter from rain or snow. Moreover, some individuals were engaged in continuous round trips between the car and bushes, seemingly to detect potential predators that would not be visible to the individuals under the car. Further study should examine the diversity of foraging and non-foraging innovations in different groups of birds, in order to better understand the evolution of behavioral flexibility and cognition in non-human animals.

© 2016 The Wilson Ornithological Society
Laure Cauchard and Thomas Borderie "House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) Use Cars to Shelter," The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 128(2), 462-464, (30 June 2016). https://doi.org/10.1676/1559-4491-128.2.462
Published: 30 June 2016
KEYWORDS
behavior
car
House Sparrows
innovation
Passer domesticus
shelter
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