Meeting Abstract
In order to avoid parasitism, maintain nest cleanliness, and defend their broods, many birds have developed behavioral responses to foreign objects in their nests. Female hooded warblers (Setophaga citrina) express individual variation in their nesting behaviors. In my experiment, I examined how female hooded warblers react to a foreign object in their nest. A temperature logger (iButton ®) was placed in the bottom of nests during the incubation and nestling period to record nest temperatures during the 2015-2016 breeding seasons. After placing an iButton in the nest, I video recorded each females’ behavior at the nest. The initial behavioral response to the iButton was scored on a 1-4 scale, and I used an event recording program to quantify the female’s behavior from video recorded 20 minutes following the female’s return to the nest. I then calculated the proportion of time spent inspecting the nest and the proportion of time spent exhibiting vigilant behaviors. I predict that females who exhibited more nest inspection behaviors will be higher quality females, and will have higher fledging success. Variation in female response to iButtons may predict the variation in nestling survival, nest temperature, and the amount of vigilant and nest inspection behavior displayed at the nest. Female response to the iButton may also provide insight into how a female responds to a foreign egg in her nest, including a parasitic egg from a Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater). With increasing forest fragmentation leading to increased occurrence of cowbirds in hooded warbler habitat, defensive responses to cowbird eggs and other foreign objects may be selected for.
