How Predictability of Feeding Patches Affects Home Range and Foraging Habitat Selection in Avian Social Scavengers?

Griffon vultures in the Grands Causses, France, demonstrate adaptability to both predictable and unpredictable feeding environments. Despite the availability of highly predictable feeding stations—where carcasses are concentrated or dropped by farmers—they continue to forage in open grasslands when conditions (e.g., food abundance, flight) are favorable, indicating retention of natural foraging behaviors. However, they strongly prefer feeding stations during periods of scarcity or adverse weather, suggesting these stations mitigate survival risks but may also expose vultures to hazards like poisoning. Light feeding stations, offering reduced competition and mimicking natural resource dispersion, emerge as effective conservation tools without fully replacing unpredictable foraging strategies.

Monsarrat, S., Benhamou, S., Sarrazin, F., Bessa-Gomes, C., Bouten, W., & Duriez, O. (2013). How Predictability of Feeding Patches Affects Home Range and Foraging Habitat Selection in Avian Social Scavengers? PLoS ONE, 8(1), e53077. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0053077