How to feed a little sparrow? Disentangling determinants and consequences of feeder use in the Eurasian tree sparrow Passer montanus (Linnaeus, 1758) using RFID technology

2025 · doi:10.64898/2025.12.14.694133
preprint OA: closed CC-BY-4.0
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The paper investigates determinants and consequences of supplemental bird feeder use in the Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus) from a population in central Spain, using radio frequency identification (RFID) to quantify feeder use. It finds extensive variation in feeder use both between individuals and across time, and reports that individuals who used feeders later spent more time feeding. Feeder use did not explain variation in reproductive success in the study population. The study’s key caveat is that the findings are based on this specific population and an observational association between feeder use and reproductive outcomes. The paper does not explicitly discuss endometriosis or adenomyosis; it was included in the corpus via a keyword match in the upstream search index.

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Abstract

There is extensive debate on supplemental bird feeding given the mixed evidence about its effects on avian taxa. In this study, we quantified feeder use in the Eurasian Tree Sparrow ( Passer montanus ) from a population in Central Spain using radio frequency identification (RFID) with the aim of unravelling its determinants and consequences. We found extensive variation in feeder use, both individually and temporally. Individuals that made use of feeders later spent more time feeding. Feeder use did not explain variation in reproductive success in our population. Our study indicates that inter-individual differences combined with seasonality are the main determinants of feeder use.
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Abstract There is extensive debate on supplemental bird feeding given the mixed evidence about its effects on avian taxa. In this study, we quantified feeder use in the Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) from a population in Central Spain using radio frequency identification (RFID) with the aim of unravelling its determinants and consequences. We found extensive variation in feeder use, both individually and temporally. Individuals that made use of feeders later spent more time feeding. Feeder use did not explain variation in reproductive success in our population. Our study indicates that inter-individual differences combined with seasonality are the main determinants of feeder use. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Funder Information Declared Ministry of Science and Innovation, SP, PID2019-108971GB-I00, MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 Ministry of Universities, SP, FPU17/06268 Copyright The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.

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europepmc
last seen: 2026-05-20T01:45:00.602351+00:00
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License: CC-BY-4.0