Meeting Abstract

P1.73  Tuesday, Jan. 4  Site contrasts in molt dynamics of the Carolina Chickadee WANG, Michael Y.*; DEERING, Camille M.; BUTLER, Luke K.; The College of New Jersey; The College of New Jersey; The College of New Jersey lbutler@tcnj.edu

The annual post-breeding (prebasic) molt of temperate songbirds is sensitive to environmental conditions, but we know relatively little about how molt dynamics are influenced by habitat structure. We compared molt dynamics of Carolina Chickadees (Poecile carolinensis) in an urban corridor to molt dynamics of Carolina Chickadees in an uninhabited, protected forest in the nearby New Jersey pine barrens. Within the pine barrens, we also compared molt between chickadees sampled in relatively contiguous forest to chickadees inhabiting fragmented forest. Chickadees at the contiguous and fragmented forest sites molted on similar schedules, but started molt about three weeks later than chickadees in the urban corridor, suggesting that living near dense human habitation may advance the transition from breeding to molt in this species. Interestingly, chickadees at the forest site appeared to “catch up” to the urban population, so that birds in both populations completed molt about the same time in late summer. These results provide new insights into the proximal environmental influences on the timing of molt in temperate-breeding songbirds.