How can experience change the food-begging responses of herring gull chicks?

Herring gull chicks exhibit a shift in their food-begging behavior as they develop, transitioning from a broad, innate response to a more selective one based on experience.

Initially, newly hatched chicks possess an innate, instinctive response to beg for food—stretching their heads and gaping—in reaction to any mechanical disturbance, such as a parent landing on the nest. This behavior is a genetically determined response potentiality.12

As the chicks develop, this responsiveness is refined through experience. They learn to associate their begging behavior specifically with the appearance of their parents, rather than reacting to any environmental disturbance. This change is an adaptive, antipredatory behavior, as it prevents the nestlings from exposing their location by vocalizing or gaping in response to non-parental stimuli. By narrowing their response to the parent, the chicks ensure their survival by avoiding unnecessary attention from potential predators.2