Juvenal Plumage Polymorphism in Yellow Warblers Is Not Associated with Sex

The Condor ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 114 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-411
Keyword(s):  
Plumage Polymorphism ◽  
Yellow Warblers

Riparian habitat disturbed by reservoir management does not function as an ecological trap for the Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia)

2012 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 320-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.P. Quinlan ◽  
D.J. Green
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Canopy Cover ◽  
Ecological Trap ◽  
Riparian Habitat ◽  
Yellow Warbler ◽  
Nest Sites ◽  
Selection Decisions ◽  
Yellow Warblers ◽  
Setophaga Petechia

Ecological traps arise when anthropogenic change creates habitat that appears suitable but when selected reduces the fitness of an individual. We evaluated whether riparian habitat within the drawdown zone of the Arrow Lakes Reservoir, British Columbia, creates an ecological trap for Yellow Warblers ( Setophaga petechia (L., 1766)) by investigating habitat preferences and the fitness consequences of habitat selection decisions. Preferences were inferred by examining how habitat variables influenced settlement order, and comparing habitat at nest sites and random locations. Males preferred to settle in territories with more riparian shrub and tree cover, higher shrub diversity, and less high canopy cover. Females built nests in taller shrubs surrounded by a greater density of shrub stems. Habitat preferences were positively associated with fitness: nest sites in taller shrubs surrounded by higher shrub-stem densities were more likely to avoid predation and fledge young, whereas territories with more riparian cover, higher shrub diversity, and less high canopy cover had higher annual productivity. We therefore found no evidence that riparian habitat affected by reservoir operations functions as an ecological trap. Current habitat selection decisions may be associated with fitness because Yellow Warblers are adapted to breeding in a heterogeneous environment subject to periodic flooding.

scholarly journals Environmental noise influences song frequency of Yellow Warblers (Dendroica petechia) in Grand Teton National Park

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 79-90
Author(s):  
Charles E. Taylor ◽  
Yi-Ju Wang ◽  
Martin L. Cody
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
National Park ◽  
Peak Frequency ◽  
Dendroica Petechia ◽  
Grand Teton National Park ◽  
Minimum Frequency ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Yellow Warblers ◽  
Song Frequency

We explored how Yellow Warblers (Dendroica petechia) alter their songs when encountering noise in Grand Teton National Park. Different strategies for avoiding signal masking are used by other species of birds, yet there is a lack of information of birds’ responses to higher noise levels–above 65 dB; such levels are often found in National Parks that have many visitors. In this study, we investigated singing behavior of Yellow Warblers when facing noise that ranged from 30 dB to 80 dB. In these preliminary results, we found that some features of Yellow Warblers did not appear to change with background noise level, including mean minimum frequency, bandwidth and song length. Other song features we studied did show small but statistically significant changes with higher background noise, including the peak frequency and the mean minimum frequency, both of which were significantly negatively correlated with the level of background noise. This result is different from the positive correlations that are typically observed. We speculate that this difference is due to the very high dB levels of background noise that we observed.   Featured photo bywagon16 on Flickr. https://flic.kr/p/G2W6Bk

The Hour (or Two) before the Dawn

2020 ◽  
pp. 167-176
Author(s):  
Donald Kroodsma
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
The Other ◽  
Yellow Warblers ◽  
Cross Country

This chapter details the author's experience listening to birds an hour or two before the dawn during a cross-country ride. As the author crossed the Big Hole River, a lone marsh wren sang lazily. It was a western marsh wren, with all of the harsh buzzes and rattles and whistles one would expect from its more than one hundred different songs, so different from the eastern marsh wren the author heard on the other side of the Great Plains. Yellow warblers race among a dozen or so different songs, filling all air time between songs with frenetic chipping. The author also listened to northern waterthrushes.

Age-related variation in song repertoire size and repertoire sharing of yellow warblers (Dendroica petechia)

1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (9) ◽  
pp. 1926-1929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan E. Cosens ◽  
Spencer G. Sealy
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Dendroica Petechia ◽  
Repertoire Size ◽  
Song Repertoire ◽  
Fledging Success ◽  
Related Variation ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Yellow Warblers ◽  
Clutch Initiation

Songs of male yellow warblers (Dendroica petechia), ranging from 1 to 6 years of age, were recorded in the spring and summer of 1984. Recorded repertoire size and number of songs shared with neighbours varied positively with age in the spring but not in summer. Neither clutch initiation date nor fledging success varied with age or number of songs shared but both measures of reproductive success varied with size of recorded song repertoire.

scholarly journals A Genotyping Assay to Determine Plumage Morph in The White-Throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia Albicollis)

The Auk ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 1330-1335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasiliki Michopoulos ◽  
Donna L. Maney ◽  
Caroline B. Morehouse ◽  
James W. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Visual Inspection ◽  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Parental Behavior ◽  
Agarose Gel ◽  
Zonotrichia Albicollis ◽  
Banding Patterns ◽  
Genotyping Assay ◽  
Plumage Polymorphism

Abstract In alternate plumage, the White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) is polymorphic, such that individuals exhibit a median crown stripe that is either white or tan in color. This plumage polymorphism is believed to be caused by a chromosomal inversion and predicts many aspects of an individual’s aggressive and parental behavior, which makes this species an interesting and valuable subject for the study of the genetic basis of social behavior. Although the plumage polymorphism is well described, in practice the determination of morph for individual birds is not perfectly straightforward. Whereas morph can be assessed relatively easily in alternate plumage, birds in basic plumage tend to show coloration characteristic of both morphs. During the winter and fall, therefore, plumage morph cannot be determined with 100% accuracy by visual inspection alone. Here, we describe a genotyping assay that reliably predicts morph in alternate plumage. DNA from one drop of blood is amplified by PCR, digested and run on an agarose gel. The resulting banding patterns are used to distinguish white-striped from tan-striped birds with 100% accuracy. This method is fast and economical compared with karyotyping, is far less subjective than assessment of morph by plumage characteristics, and can be performed using any kind of sample from which DNA can be extracted. Un test génotypique pour déterminer la forme du plumage chez Zonotrichia albicollis

Egg-size variation in Yellow Warblers: apportionment of parental investment and the brood-survival hypothesis

1993 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 1008-1011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Percy N. Hébert ◽  
Spencer G. Sealy
Keyword(s):  
Egg Size ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Relative Mass ◽  
Egg Mass ◽  
Passerine Birds ◽  
Dendroica Petechia ◽  
Brood Survival ◽  
Yellow Warblers ◽  
Clutch Initiation

It has been hypothesized that in passerine birds the larger size of last-laid eggs is part of a brood-survival strategy. We examined the usefulness of the brood-survival hypothesis in explaining intraclutch variation in egg mass of Yellow Warblers (Dendroica petechia). In 4- and 5-egg clutches, egg mass increased significantly with laying order. Although last-hatched nestlings in broods of 4 had higher survival rates than their counterparts in broods of 5, there were no differences in the absolute or relative mass of last-laid eggs in clutches of 4 and 5 eggs. In addition, the mass of last-laid eggs that hatched but did not produce a fledgling was not significantly different from that of last-laid eggs that did produce a fledgling. Finally, the relative mass of last-laid eggs was also not correlated with hatch spread or with date of clutch initiation. The results of this study do not support the brood-survival hypothesis.

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