No study has yet examined the correlation between innovation
and social learning at the intra-specific level. This
is the goal of the present study. We presented feral pigeons
with two tasks previously used to assess innovation and social
learning in birds. Innovative problem solving can be
assessed by a bird’s readiness to open a closed container
with visible food that can be reached through a variety of
manipulanda requiring pecking, pushing, lifting or pulling
actions. This task has been shown to discriminate well between
five Passeriforme and Columbiforme species both in
captivity and in the field in the West Indies, suggesting it
is within the range of their natural behaviour (Webster and
Lefebvre 2001). Taxonomic differences on the task correlate
closely with how frequently birds from the five taxa show
feeding innovations in the field (Lefebvre and Bolhuis 2003).