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Common Ravens Responded to Visitor Numbers Rather Than a Fixed Weekend Cycle

Common raven standing clearly in profile at Cumbre Vieja, La Palma
Research · Behaviour

Free-ranging common ravens (Corvus corax) at Cumberland Wildpark in Austria responded more strongly to day-to-day visitor numbers than to a fixed weekday–weekend rhythm. The study, published in Movement Ecology on 3 June 2026, used five years of GPS data to test how the birds balanced a reliable human-provided food source against disturbance from park visitors.

Food was routinely provided to captive animals at the park, especially wild boar, independently of visitor numbers. The researchers analysed daily foraging probability for 130 ravens and daily space use for 123 ravens from 2018 to 2022. Foraging probability declined significantly as ticket sales increased, while the birds used larger daily areas on days with more visitors. The data gave only limited support to a simple “5 + 2” pattern separating weekdays from weekends.

Graphs showing predicted daily foraging probability of Common Ravens by weekday or weekend, visitor ticket sales and COVID-19 stringency
Predicted daily foraging probability showed no clear weekday–weekend separation, declined as ticket sales increased and showed no overall response to the COVID-19 stringency index. Figure 2 from Jain et al. (2026), Movement Ecology, CC BY 4.0.

The study also tested a finer time scale. During a six-week period in 2023, two-hour movement and foraging patterns were analysed for 22 ravens against detailed visitor timing. At this scale, the combined models did not show a significant overall response to visitor presence, so the clearest behavioural effect was the day-level pattern seen across the longer dataset rather than an immediate response within each part of the day.

The authors interpret the results as evidence that the ravens adjusted their use of the wildlife park to actual fluctuations in human presence rather than anticipating a rigid weekly cycle. They note that some birds also used alternative human-associated feeding sites many kilometres away, giving them options when disturbance at the park increased.

Sources and image credit

  1. Jain, V., Loretto, M.-C., Bugnyar, T., & Sumasgutner, P. (2026). Fluctuations in direct human presence, not predictable weekly cycles, influence avoidance behaviour in ravens. Movement Ecology, 14, 56. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-026-00671-9Primary peer-reviewed open-access study published 3 June 2026 under CC BY 4.0. Five years of GPS data covered daily foraging probability in 130 free-ranging Common Ravens and daily space use in 123 birds at Cumberland Wildpark, Austria. Foraging probability decreased and daily space use increased as ticket sales rose, while a separate six-week two-hour analysis of 22 birds found no significant overall fine-scale response to visitor presence.

Image: Syrio / Wikimedia Commons — Common Raven (Corvus corax) photographed at Cumbre Vieja, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain, 22 October 2023; representative species image, not a study bird from Austria · CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ · Source

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