Individual recognition and selective response to contact calls in foraging brown-throated conures, Aratinga pertinax

Foraging individuals can benefit from recruiting conspecifics to food sites, but must balance potential benefits against increased competition. Foragers in fission–fusion societies may recruit others to food resources by calling and can reduce the relative cost of this behaviour by selectively recruiting preferred conspecifics. Observational studies of the brown-throated conure on the island of Bonaire showed that overflying groups were much more likely to settle in the area when a foraging group called to the overflying group. However, foraging groups did not call to every overflying group, and food abundance alone did not determine whether foraging groups would call. Playback experiments indicated that conures can respond preferentially to social partners. Observational and experimental data suggest that brown-throated conures may use loud contact calls selectively to recruit conspecifics to currently available foraging sites.