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Habitat selection by dispersing yellow-headed blackbirds: evidence of prospecting and the use of public information

  • Behavioural Ecology
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Abstract

In migratory birds individuals may prospect for potential breeding sites months before they attempt to breed and should use the cues most predictive of future reproductive success when selecting a breeding site. However, what cues individuals use when prospecting and which cues are used in selecting a breeding site are unknown for most species. I investigated whether yellow-headed blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) prospect for future breeding sites and whether they select breeding habitats based on food availability, male or female density, or the average number of young produced per female in the previous year. Although it is often assumed that migratory birds prospect for potential breeding sites at the end of the breeding season, I investigated this by recording all visits to sites early and late in the breeding season. I found that males and females who visited sites other than the site at which they bred were more likely to disperse than individuals only observed at the site where they bred, and that males and females were more likely to prospect late in the breeding season. Both food availability and density in yearx were not predictive of the number of young per female in yearx+1; however, the number of young produced per female at a site in yearx was predictive of the number of young per female in yearx+1. As expected, dispersers used the most informative cue, the number of young per female and moved to sites with a relatively high number of young per female. This study suggests that individuals prospect for potential breeding sites late in the breeding season when they can use information gathered from the reproductive success of other individuals (i.e., public information) to select a breeding site.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Dave Enstrom, Pat Weatherhead, Scott Robinson, Jim Herkert, Brad Semel, Ken Paige, and Jeff Brawn for advice and support. I would also like to thank the tremendous work of several field assistants. Financial support for this study was provided by Illinois Natural History Survey, Illinois Department of Transportation, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Champaign County Audubon Society, Sigma Xi, Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation, Chicago Wilderness, IDNR /Chicago Wilderness C-2000 partnership, Chicago Zoological Society, Zoos for Environmental Conservation, US Fish and Wildlife Service, McHenry County Conservation Foundation, Illinois Endangered Species Board, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This research was conducted in accordance with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Animal Care and Use Permit#N8C093.

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  1. Department of Animal Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 201 Shelford Vivarium 606 E. Healey St, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA

    Michael P. Ward

  2. Illinois Natural History Survey, 607 E Peabody Dr, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA

    Michael P. Ward

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  1. Michael P. Ward
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Correspondence to Michael P. Ward.

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Communicated by Scott Robinson

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Ward, M.P. Habitat selection by dispersing yellow-headed blackbirds: evidence of prospecting and the use of public information. Oecologia 145, 650–657 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-005-0179-0

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