In this thesis, I present in captivity and in the field, experimental tests based on innovative feeding to a group of seven opportunistic avian species in Barbados. In chapter 1, I present an example of innovative feeding anecdotes by describing for the first time bread "hunting" and kleptoparasitisim at experimental patches by the Gray Kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis). In chapter 2, I compare three Passeriforme (the Carib Grackle, Quiscalus lugubris; the Shiny Cowbird, Molothrus bonariensis; the Lesser-Antillean Bullfinch, Loxigilla noctis) and two Columbiforme species (the Zenaida Dove, Zenaida aurita, the Common Ground Dove, Columbina passerina ) on three measures of foraging flexibility presented in the field and in captivity: habituation to mew food patches, willingness to feed near unfamiliar objects (neophobia) and ability to obtain food from a new apparatus. In chapter 3, the two nectar-feeding species in the opportunistic "guild" of Barbados, the bullfinch and the Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola), were given a neophobia test in the field, using dissolved sugar as food. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Lefebvre, Louis (Supervisor)