Welcome to Battling Birds: Panama Edition!
The Panama Fruit Feeder cam features a feeding table located on the grounds of the Canopy Lodge in El Valle de Antón, Panama. Here, birds feed on one of the many feeding tables located at the lodge that allows both guests at the lodge and online viewers to enjoy the incredible views of these tropical birds. In our first investigation with this cam, Panama Live, we learned about the arrival patterns of six common species.
Bird Cams Lab teamed up with Dr. Eliot Miller for a second investigation, Battling Birds: Panama Edition. Similar to Battling Birds, we set out to study the social behavior of birds at a feeder, but this time in Panama. Panama Fruit Feeder cam viewers expressed interest in wanting to learn more about aggression, a behavior that Dr. Miller studied in North American feeder birds. With the community’s interest and Dr. Miller’s expertise, we pieced together the puzzle and created a pecking order or social dominance hierarchy. We found out, when birds come to a feeder, the heavier the bird, the more likely it is to successfully displace its opponent. You can read about what the community did and found out in the investigation’s Final Report.