Humans get a lot of benefits from working and living in groups, one of which is better collective problem solving. As long as a group isn't too large, humans tend to solve problems faster and more efficiently as a group than as individuals. There have been some experiments that suggest other animals may benefit in a similar manner, but this work has generally been performed in an artificial environment. Now, researchers have found evidence that larger flocks of birds are better at tackling challenges in the wild.
The researchers looked at an area outside of Oxford where all of the local great and blue tits have been banded with RFID systems. They set up a feeding system next to an RFID reader that required the birds to consecutively pull two different levers in order to release a bunch of sunflower seeds. The RFID reader ensured that the researchers knew how many and which birds were around when seeds were released.
Once the flock size went above about a dozen birds, the rate of problem solving shot way up. Some of this was a result of experience—the larger the flock, the greater the possibility that one of the birds had been in a flock that had obtained a meal in the past. Birds solved the problem better when the feeder was located closer to shelter, so the authors think that numbers provide a bit of safety and a greater probability of spotting predators.
But these factors only accounted for a portion of the total benefit from a flock; the authors' statistical analysis suggests that there's a large benefit from having random individuals present. Problem solving skills may just not be evenly distributed in the bird world, so a larger flock raised the probability that one of its members was just better at experimenting with levers.