Birds of a Feather Don't Always Flock Together: Divergent Pathways of Urban Integration in Two Native South American Pigeons

ABSTRACT

Urbanization transforms natural habitats into complex and heterogeneous landscapes that act as ecological filters, shaping how species colonize and persist in cities. Whether urban environments promote convergence toward a single ‘urban strategy’ or allow the coexistence of multiple ecological strategies remains a central question in urban ecology. Here, we examined how two closely related native pigeons, the Spot‐winged Pigeon ( Patagioenas maculosa ) and the Picazuro pigeon ( Patagioenas picazuro ), partition habitats across multiple spatial scales of urban environments in the southwestern Pampas region, Argentina. At the transect scale, both species occurred in broadly similar urban environments and selected areas with greater tree cover and reduced bare soil, indicating shared dependence on urban green infrastructure. However, consistent interspecific differences emerged: Spot‐winged Pigeon showed greater tolerance for built‐up conditions, whereas Picazuro pigeon was more strongly associated with arboreal structure and avoided areas with taller buildings. At finer spatial scales, both species preferentially used more open microhabitats than expected from availability, suggesting convergence toward structurally open sites likely linked to foraging efficiency and vigilance. Abundance models further revealed divergent environmental drivers, with Spot‐winged Pigeon weakly associated with herbaceous cover and Picazuro pigeon strongly dependent on tree cover. Nest‐site characteristics reinforced these contrasts, as Picazuro pigeon selected denser canopies, whereas Spot‐winged Pigeon nested in more open substrates. Together, our results indicate that closely related species can follow different ecological pathways to urban integration, shaped by their natural‐history affinities. These findings support the view of cities as heterogeneous mosaics that enable ecological divergence rather than homogenization, advancing our understanding of how native species integrate into urban ecosystems.