Individual-level social associations and social information use predict foraging success in winter mixed-species flocks

In North American winter mixed-species flocks, individual black-capped chickadees’ social associations and conspecific playback exposure predict novel feeder discovery, improving foraging success.

• Why it matters: Species-level analyses miss how social information flows among individuals, limiting understanding of when mixed-species flocking actually benefits foraging efficiency.
• What they did: Using RFID loggers at fixed feeders and novel feeder trials with chickadee, nuthatch, or white-noise playbacks, the study quantified individual social associations and tested their links to discovery and foraging benefits.
• The result: For nuthatches and downy woodpeckers, foraging benefits were predicted by associations with chickadees and emerged only during chickadee playbacks, showing benefits depend on individual associations and social information.