Ecological and environmental traits can influence avian escape behaviour but most data underpinning our current understanding relates to continental and temperate areas and species. We conducted a phylogenetically controlled comparative analysis of flight-initation distance (FID) against a variety of environmental, behavioural and life-history attributes for Sri Lankan birds (202 species; n = 2540). As with other studies, body mass was positively associated with FID, and longer FIDs occurred in areas where human population density was...