Birds in the trees Researchers studied the behavior of birds that were searching for seeds and insects in an Oregon forest. In this forest, 54% of the trees were Douglas firs, 40% were ponderosa pines, and 6%

were other types of trees. At a randomly selected time during the day, the researchers observed 156 red-

breasted nuthatches: 70 were seen in Douglas firs, 79 in ponderosa pines, and 7 in other types of trees.2 Do these data provide convincing evidence that nuthatches prefer particular types of trees when they’re searching for seeds and insects?