An Advantage of Winter Flocking in the Black-Capped Chickadee, Parus Atricapillus

Ecology ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 674-676 ◽  
Author(s):  
David P. Barash
Keyword(s):  
Parus Atricapillus

Winter Survival and Territory Acquisition in a Northern Population of Black-Capped Chickadees

The Auk ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 105 (4) ◽  
pp. 727-736 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Desrochers ◽  
Susan J. Hannon ◽  
Kelly E. Nordin
Keyword(s):  
Survival Rates ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Control Area ◽  
Winter Survival ◽  
Food Supplementation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Differential Survival ◽  
Northern Population ◽  
Parus Atricapillus ◽  
Lower Ranking

Abstract We assessed the effects of winter food supplementation on differential survival between sex, age and dominance classes, and the effects of feeding and territorial defense on breeding density in a northern population of Black-capped Chickadees (Parus atricapillus). Survival rates were higher in a food-supplemented area than in a control area, which suggests that food abundance limited winter survival. Survival was greater among males than lower-ranking females in 1 of 2 years, and greater in dominants than in subordinates, within sex and age classes. Survival of adults and first-year birds, however, did not differ significantly. In the 2 years of this study, a sharp decline of population size occurred at the onset of territoriality in spring. Birds that disappeared in spring were mainly subordinates of each sex. Breeding densities in control and feeder areas were similar in the two years. Eight of 14 territorial birds removed in 2 years were replaced, implying that a nonbreeding surplus was present in early spring.

Female demands: some fitness implications in chickadee flocks

1984 ◽  
Vol 62 (12) ◽  
pp. 2550-2552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig D. Orr ◽  
Nicolaas A. M. Verbeek
Keyword(s):  
Nest Site ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Food Demand ◽  
Male Aggression ◽  
Parus Atricapillus ◽  
Overwinter Survival ◽  
Nest Sites ◽  
Extra Energy ◽  
Extra Food

Female black-capped chickadees (Parus atricapillus), besides searching for their own food, "demand" food from their mates in the spring for extra energy needed to produce and incubate eggs. This behaviour signals their readiness to copulate and it is followed by increased levels of male – male aggression, probably to prevent cuckoldry. Increased aggression owing to limited nest site availability may also be locally important. Subordinate pairs disperse and many presumably die. The extra food allows females with nest sites to breed earlier than if they fed themselves exclusively, and producing early broods appears to be a better fitness strategy than having larger clutches or additional broods. Juveniles from early broods survive better and attain higher social ranks in flock hierarchies, and dominant pairs have the highest overwinter survival rates as well as a better chance than subordinate pairs of obtaining a territory in the spring.

Development of a Selective Response To an Adult Vocalization in Nestling Black-Capped Chickadees

Behaviour ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 132 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine R. Clemmons
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Auditory Sensitivity ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Parus Atricapillus ◽  
Acoustic Structure ◽  
Nesting Site ◽  
Song Production

AbstractThere are many studies on how songbirds develop song production, but few on how songbirds develop appropriate responses to conspecific vocalizations. The black-capped chickadee, Parus atricapillus, produces a vocalization, the 'squawk', that stimulates gaping in nestlings during feeding. To determine whether nestlings gape selectively at the squawk, playbacks of several conspecific vocalizations plus a heterospecific vocalization were presented to nestlings within natural nests. A preference for the squawk did not appear until day 2-3 and then steadily increased, until by day 11-13, nestlings gaped only at the squawk. To determine whether there are constraints on which vocalization can develop as the gaping stimulus, newly-hatched nestlings were reinforced with food for gaping either at the squawk or the faint feebee, the two most common adult vocalizations at the nesting site. Regardless of reinforcement, nestlings gaped most frequently at the squawk. In addition, after the first few days posthatch, nestlings became as responsive to a third, unreinforced, heterospecific vocalization as to the squawk. The responsiveness to the heterospecific vocalization coincided with the expanding range of auditory sensitivity that occurs at the same age during passerine development. Thus, while field observations show that nestlings gape mostly to the squawk relative to other parental vocalizations, experimental evidence indicates that there is not an exclusive link between the signal (squawk) and its response (gaping), especially during the first week posthatch when parents use the signal most frequently. Rather, an effectively selective response may be achieved redundantly by a variety of factors. Possible factors that are discussed include matching acoustic structure to nestling perceptual biases and the behavior

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