A new study suggests wild birds prefer sacrificing their food in order to stay close to their loved ones during the winters.

According to a new research study conducted by University of Oxford researchers, a specific species of birds known as great tits prioritize their relationships over food in an experiment that prevented couples from foraging in the same location, reported NDTV.

The result demonstrates how important social relationships are to wild birds.

For the purpose of the study, the research team used automated feeding stations to track the eating habits of great tits at Oxford University's Wytham Woods site.

Mated pairs of birds were unable to access the same feeding stations as each other, meaning that one bird was able to access certain stations, while its partner was only able to access others. Birds were allowed access based on radio frequency identification tags that were linked to the feeding stations, according to TechTimes.

The researchers found that the birds elected rather to remain with their mates than to abandon them in favor of easy meals.

"The choice to stay close to their partner over accessing food demonstrates how an individual bird's decisions in the short term, which might appear sub-optimal, can actually be shaped around gaining the long-term benefits of maintaining their key relationships," said research lead Josh Frith reported DailyMail.

"For instance, great tits require a partner to be able to reproduce and raise their chicks," he added.

"Therefore, even in wild animals, an individual's behavior can be governed by aiming to accommodate the needs of those they are socially attached to."

"Because these birds choose to stay with their partners, they also end up associating with their partners' flock-mates, even if they wouldn't usually associate with these individuals. This shows how the company an individual bird keeps may depend on their partner's preferences as well as their own," Firth added.

The results of the study were published in the journal Current Biology.