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Daily foraging activity of small wintering birds is classically thought to be driven by the need to gather enough energy reserves to survive each night. A separate line of research has shown that sociality is a major driver in winter foraging activities in many species. Here, we used wintering birds as a study system to move toward an integrative understanding of the influence of energy requirements and sociality on foraging ecology. We used RFID-enabled feeders in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA in January–March 2019 to measure foraging activity in two species (downy woodpeckers, Dryobates pubescens, and white-breasted nuthatches, Sitta carolinensis). We analyzed the relationship between overnight temperature and morning foraging activity and found that lowest overnight temperature was weakly correlated with morning visitation at feeders. We then used a network approach to ask if flock associations explain similarity in birds’ foraging activity. In both species, individuals with stronger associations in a social network were more likely to share similar feeder activity, and an index of social partners’ activity explained foraging activity better than overnight temperature. This brings forth new questions about the interplay between individual response to temperature and social factors in shaping how small animals cope with harsh winter conditions.

Protected areas (PAs) are necessary for conserving animal populations amidst human expansion, but may be insufficient for fully accommodating the needs of wide-ranging species. Animals’ use of space and PAs may vary by age, life-history and social considerations. We quantified sightings and behavior of 516 adult Asian elephants from both sexes, over 9 years, to investigate how life history traits and behavior influence PA use at Udawalawe National Park, Sri Lanka. Male PA use, quantified in terms of average between-sightings-interval (BSI), was significantly influenced by the interaction of age class and motivational state (i.e. reproduction vs. foraging). A minority of males (11%) used it exclusively during mate-search, while the remainder used it exclusively for foraging (44%) or both (45%). Females’ average BSI was significantly yet weakly influenced by social ties, indicating that members of social communities do not necessarily disperse together as a unit. Inter-annual variability in sightings among individuals of both sexes indicates that over half of the population are likely non-residential, challenging the dominant fortress-conservation paradigm of wildlife management in many parts of Asia. Our observations underscore that elephant populations in PAs may be more heavily dependent on adjacent landscapes than hitherto acknowledged.