Audubon and The Wildlife Society highlight our research on bird-fruit interactions!

By Amanda S. Gallinat and Richard B. Primack

“Do not think that the fruits of New England are mean and insignificant, while those of some foreign land are noble and memorable… Better for us is the wild strawberry than the pineapple.” 

-Henry David Thoreau in his Journal

With climate change, many birds migrate later while the fruits they eat ripen earlier. The spread of late-fruiting invasive plants means birds are more likely to encounter abundant invasive fruits during migration. To see what birds eat in autumn, we identified seeds from fecal samples of birds caught at Manomet, a bird banding station. As we report in Biological Conservation (here), birds prefer native fruits even when they are in short supply compared to invasive fruits.

Recently, this research, co-authored with Trevor Lloyd-Evans, was featured by both Audubon (here) and The Wildlife Society (here)! Both articles highlight birds’ strong preferences for native fruits and the conservation importance of planting and maintaining late-fruiting native plants.

Audubon reaches a wide audience of ornithologists, birders, and nature enthusiasts, while The Wildlife Society’s audience includes students, researchers, and practitioners of conservation and wildlife biology. We are delighted for our research to reach these new audiences!