Data from: The early bird gets the worm: foraging strategies of wild songbirds lead to the early discovery of food sources

Animals need to manage the combined risks of predation and starvation in order to survive. Theoretical and empirical studies have shown that individuals can reduce predation risk by delaying feeding (and hence fat storage) until late afternoon. However little is known about how individuals manage the opposing pressures of resource uncertainty and predation risks. We suggest that individuals should follow a two-part strategy: prioritising the discovery of food early in the day and exploiting the best patch late in the day. Using automated data loggers, we tested if a temporal component exists in the discovery of novel foraging locations by individuals in a mixed-species foraging guild. We found that food deployed in the morning was discovered significantly more often than food deployed in the afternoon. Based on the diurnal activity patterns in this population, overall rates of new arrivals were also significantly higher than expected in the morning and significantly lower than expected in the afternoon. These results align with our predictions of a shift from patch discovery to exploitation over the course of the day.动物为维持生存，需同时应对捕食与饥饿的双重风险。理论与实证研究表明，个体可通过推迟觅食行为（进而延缓脂肪储存）至傍晚时分，以降低被捕食的风险。然而目前学界对个体如何协调资源不确定性与捕食风险这两类对立选择压力的机制仍不甚明晰。本研究提出，个体应遵循两阶段觅食策略：日间早期优先探索食物资源，日间晚期则优先利用优质觅食斑块。本研究借助自动数据记录器（automated data loggers），检验了混合物种种群觅食集群（mixed-species foraging guild）中个体对新型觅食位点的探索是否存在时间节律特征。结果显示，晨间投放的食物被发现的频次显著高于午后投放的食物；基于该种群的昼夜活动模式，整体新个体到访率同样表现为晨间显著高于预期值，午后则显著低于预期值。上述结果与本研究提出的“日间觅食从斑块探索转向资源利用”的预测一致。