Tail flicking is a common behavior that can be observed in many bird species. Various studies have investigated this behavior in different contexts such as during foraging, social interactions, or during predator–prey interactions. Nonetheless, there has been no statistical synthesis of results concerning the most commonly hypothesized functions of tail flicking. We conducted meta-analyses of published studies reporting flicking rates of birds in different contexts to identify a general function of tail flicking across species. We found evidence that tail flicking does not serve only one function but most likely has various functions across species. We found the general trend for flicking being a reflection of vigilance and predation risk. Flicking was related to flock size as rates decreased with increasing flock size, which might be related to a decreased individual predation risk in larger flocks. Moreover, we found flicking to be related to body condition and prey flushing. However, effect sizes for these hypotheses were only available from very few studies (body condition k = 2, prey flushing k = 3). Hence, future research concerning these two functions are necessary. Finally, our results suggested that flicking is not used for social communication, as it was not related to the presence of a conspecific or social status of an individual.

中文翻译：

---

鸟类甩尾的功能：荟萃分析

甩尾是一种常见的行为，可以在许多鸟类中观察到。各种研究已经在不同的背景下调查了这种行为，例如在觅食、社交互动或捕食者-猎物互动期间。尽管如此，还没有关于最常见的甩尾功能的结果的统计综合。我们对已发表的研究报告进行了荟萃分析，这些研究报告了不同环境下鸟类的甩尾率，以确定跨物种甩尾的一般功能。我们发现的证据表明，甩尾不仅具有一种功能，而且很可能在不同物种之间具有多种功能。我们发现轻弹的总体趋势是警惕性和捕食风险的反映。弹跳与鸡群大小有关，因为随着鸡群大小的增加，比率下降，这可能与较大鸡群中个体捕食风险降低有关。此外，我们发现轻弹与身体状况和猎物潮红有关。然而，这些假设的影响大小仅从极少数研究中获得（身体状况 k = 2，猎物潮红 k = 3）。因此，有必要对这两个功能进行进一步的研究。最后，我们的结果表明，轻弹不用于社交交流，因为它与个人的同种或社会地位的存在无关。未来对这两个功能的研究是必要的。最后，我们的结果表明，轻弹不用于社交交流，因为它与个人的同种或社会地位的存在无关。未来对这两个功能的研究是必要的。最后，我们的结果表明，轻弹不用于社交交流，因为它与个人的同种或社会地位的存在无关。