Meeting Abstract
The Hooded Warbler Setophaga citrina is a migratory Parulid which breeds in mature forests throughout eastern North America. Sex-specific variation in habitat use has been documented in both the tropical wintering grounds and the temperate breeding grounds. Male Hooded Warblers tend to utilize the canopy and mid-story while females tend to utilize the understory. Differences in structural complexity in the upper and lower levels presents each sex with different locomotion challenges and a unique prey base. We sought to determine whether differences in ecology exhibited by each sex correspond to differences in morphology and foraging behavior, and the implications of such differences on maternal and paternal care behaviors. We captured, uniquely marked, and collected morphological data from all adult Hooded Warblers breeding in four, 30ha study sites in southeastern Ohio. We monitored each adult bird through the 2015 and 2016 breeding seasons to locate nests, map territory boundaries, and record foraging behaviors and substrate use. We video recorded each nest for a minimum of two hours, every other day during the nestling period in order to obtain provisioning rates and prey loads brought by each adult. Finally, we quantified growth rate for each nestling and assessed the body condition of each fledgling. We present data on the relationships between adult hooded warbler morphology and ecology and how parental morphological and behavioral phenotypes affect reproductive success.
