Animal tolerance towards humans can be a key factor facilitating wildlife–human coexistence, yet traits predicting its direction and magnitude across tropical animals are poorly known. Using 10,249 observations for 842 bird species inhabiting open tropical ecosystems in Africa, South America, and Australia, we find that avian tolerance towards humans was lower (i.e., escape distance was longer) in rural rather than urban populations and in populations exposed to lower human disturbance (measured as human footprint index). In addition, larger species and species with larger clutches and enhanced flight ability are less tolerant to human approaches and escape distances increase when birds were approached during the wet season compared to the dry season and from longer starting distances. Identification of key factors affecting animal tolerance towards humans across large spatial and taxonomic scales may help us to better understand and predict the patterns of species distributions in the Anthropocene.

Human depredation threatens the conservation of bird species especially in rural areas where birds are hunted for protein. This study explored species found in Thekwane village of Bulilima district in Plumtree, Zimbabwe, from July to September 2020. A survey was conducted to assess bird's flight initiation distance (FID) across various habitats and times of the day. Fifty key informants reported which bird species were hunted by locals. A desktop survey was done to determine the average body mass and conservation status according to IUCN for all species recorded. The effect of body mass, time of the day, perch type/height, starting distance, flock size, hunting pressure and habitat type on FID was investigated using generalised linear models. Chi-square tests were used to explore association between key informants' citation frequency of birds and their level of hunting. The key informants cited 49 species commonly used for protein provision, while 58 species were recorded during FID measurements. FID increased with body mass, and the birds that were perching on the ground had longer FIDs. There was a linear positive relationship between FID and starting distance and large flocks had longer FIDs. However hunting pressure and habitat type had no significant relationship with FID. Our results suggest that the larger bird species had less tolerance to approaching humans and birds that were less likely to be hunted by people had similar levels of wariness compared to those that are more likely to be hunted. K E Y W O R D Sflight initiation distance, hunting pressure, perch type and height, starting distance body mass RésuméLa surchasse par l'homme menace la conservation de l'avifaune plus spécifiquement dans les zones rurales où l'avifaune est chassée comme apport de protéine. A travers cette étude, nous voulons comprendre l'influence de la pression cynégétique et de paramètres écologiques sur la distance d'envol de l'avifaune (FID). Ainsi la distance d'envol au sein de différents habitats et à différent moment de la journée, pour les espèces trouvées dans le village de Thekwane (district de Bulilima, Zimbabwé) entre Juillet et Septembre 2020, a été collectée Les données de FID ont été analysées en prenant compte plusieurs variables tel que la masse moyenne de l'espèce, la taille du groupe, la distance de détection de l'espèce, le type et location du perchoir, la période