Timing of reproduction can influence individual fitness whereby early breeders tend to have higher reproductive success than late breeders. However, the fitness consequences of timing of breeding may also be influenced by environmental conditions after the commencement of breeding. We tested whether ambient temperatures during the incubation and early nestling periods modulated the effect of la...

Personality, or repeatable variation in behavior, may impact an animal's survival reproduction. Parental aggression is one such personality trait with potentially direct implications for fitness, as it can improve offspring during vulnerable early life stages. We took advantage of a long-term nest box and fledgling monitoring project to explore the potential fitness consequences both repeatabil...

We report two bird species with pigment anomalies, which were seen in Cali, Colombia 2020. The individuals were, a female Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) partial leucism, Ruddy Ground-Dove (Columbia talpacoti) leucism and young nestling of the same species, albinism. records reported here are first albinism for Columbia talpacoti Molothrus bonariensis Colombia.

—Studies of spatial activity of songbirds during the nesting cycle have largely focused on male activity and neglected female space use, patiicularly outside the fertile period. We estimated the home-range size of seven female Dai'k-eyed Juncos (Jutico hyemalis) 3 days after their nestlings had hatched. We used radiotelemetry to track female movements for 2 hrs on the afternoon of day 3 of nest...

BACKGROUND Carotenoid plumage is of widespread use in bird communication. Carotenoid-based feather colouration has recently been shown to be dependent on both pigment concentration and feather structure. If these two components are determined differently, one plumage patch may potentially convey different aspects of individual quality. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We evaluated the effects o...

In nestling birds, begging typically signals short-term hunger and is often used by parents to allocate food within a brood. Although young birds continue to beg long after nest departure less is known about the information content of begging and its influence on parental allocation patterns post-fledging. We examined the function of begging in fledgling American dippers (Cinclus mexicanus) and...