Human modifications to the environment are having a dramatic effect on biodiversity, but in desert habitats the high abundance of resources near human villages may be beneficial to breeding birds. By collecting high-throughput tracking data on Argya squamiceps (Arabian Babblers), we examined whether nesting and foraging in a village increased nestling growth and development in this social, desert-dwelling species. We placed tags on 10 individuals representing 8 groups of A. squamiceps and 16 nests with nestlings, collecting 191,087 localizations (average = 1,504.6 +/- 1,067.4 SE localizations per day). Contrary to our predictions, we found that it was more beneficial for A. squamiceps to have nests farther away from villages - groups nesting farther from villages covered less area when foraging and yet had heavier nestlings. The heaviest nestlings were from nests where groups spent the highest proportion of time foraging in orchards. This suggests that some level of human resources (i.e., orchards) was beneficial but only if combined with otherwise low levels of human presence. Detailed movement data of wild birds, particularly in the context of reproductive success as used here, can further uncover the effects of human disturbance on breeding individuals. This is particularly important in dryland areas, where human impact may elicit nontrivial responses from local wildlife, and which are under-represented in such basic and applied research. Humans continue to modify natural landscapes, with potentially detrimental effects on wildlife. Understanding how animals are responding to our changing world is key for our ability to protect them. Deserts are under-researched and present a unique system to look at human disturbance, where human-modified habitat increases the presence of food and water. Here, we examined how living in a mosaic of villages, orchards, and semi-natural desert affected nestling growth in a cooperative-breeding desert bird. We asked whether groups that use the more plentiful resources around human areas had higher quality nestlings. We tracked 10 individuals from 8 groups of Argya squamiceps (Arabian Babbler) with nests that had nestlings, collecting similar to 1,000 locations per individual per day. We found the best place for a nest was where individuals could take advantage of resources while remaining apart from people-the heaviest nestlings and higher nest success were close to orchards and far from villages. Las modificaciones humanas al ambiente est & aacute;n teniendo un efecto dram & aacute;tico sobre la biodiversidad, pero en h & aacute;bitats des & eacute;rticos la alta abundancia de recursos cerca de poblados humanos puede ser beneficiosa para las aves reproductoras. Al recopilar datos de seguimiento de alta resoluci & oacute;n en Argya squamiceps, examinamos si anidar y forrajear en un poblado aumentaba el crecimiento y desarrollo de los polluelos en esta especie social, habitante del desierto. Colocamos dispositivos de seguimiento en 10 individuos que representaban 8 grupos de A. squamiceps y 16 nidos con polluelos, recolectando 191.087 localizaciones (promedio = 1.504,6 +/- 1.067,4 EE localizaciones por d & iacute;a). Contrario a nuestras predicciones, encontramos que era m & aacute;s beneficioso para A. squamiceps tener nidos m & aacute;s alejados de los poblados: los grupos que anidaban m & aacute;s lejos de los poblados cubr & iacute;an menos & aacute;rea al forrajear y, sin embargo, ten & iacute;an polluelos m & aacute;s pesados. Los polluelos m & aacute;s pesados proven & iacute;an de nidos donde los grupos pasaban la mayor proporci & oacute;n del tiempo forrajeando en huertos. Esto sugiere que cierto nivel de recursos humanos (i.e., huertos) fue beneficioso, pero solo si se combinaba con niveles bajos de presencia humana. Los datos detallados de movimiento de las aves silvestres, particularmente en el contexto del & eacute;xito reproductivo como se utiliz & oacute; aqu & iacute;, pueden revelar m & aacute;s informaci & oacute;n sobre los efectos de la perturbaci & oacute;n humana en individuos reproductores. Esto es particularmente importante en & aacute;reas & aacute;ridas, donde el impacto humano puede generar respuestas no triviales en la fauna local, y que est & aacute;n sub-representadas en este tipo de investigaci & oacute;n b & aacute;sica y aplicada.