Table 1.

Experimental timeline.

		food present?
time	action	focal bird	conspecifics
T − 3 h	remove food of focal bird in its home cage	no	yes
T − 0.5 h	move conspecifics to experimental cage	no	yes
T0	move focal bird to experimental cage	no	yes
	start observation of conspecific behaviour
T + 0.5 h	provide focal bird with food in both food dishes	yes	yes
	start observation of focal bird feeding preference
T + 1.5 h	end of observation