SEPARATION OF CACHES BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL WILLOW TITS HOARDING UNDER NATURAL CONDITIONS

Individual variation in foraging and hoarding locations of willow tits, Parus montanus, was studied for 3 years during the main hoarding period in the autumn. Caching locations of different individuals were separated vertically; this was especially clear between males in the same flock. Spatial separation of caches for individuals could make hoarding evolutionarily stable even if specific caching locations are not remembered. Pine, which is the most important foraging tree during the winter, was preferred for hoarding more than for foraging during the autumn. Seeds were hoarded more frequently than the other major component in the diet, larvae. These characteristics may be adaptations for large-scale long-term hoarding of the kind that has been reported from field studies of boreal tits. © 1994 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.