Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory

16 Apr, 09 AM - 18 Jul, 02 AM

Testing The Cause Of Frozen Vocal Ontogeny We will trap 21 yearling cowbirds in May 2007 at the SNARL research station in the Convict whistle dialect, one of the dialects we have studied for over 25 years. We will record the repertoires of these males in captivity using standard procedures. Fifteen of the yearlings will be castrated and six of these castrates will be given T implants to maintain elevated T levels. The remaining nine castrates and six intact males will be given empty Silastic implants as controls. For the major part of their captivity, the experimental birds will be housed in three large flight cages located outdoors at SNARL. These cages will be segmented into sections housing individual birds. This outdoor housing will be similar to that we have used before at SNARL. Early on in the season (May), we will need to house each of the birds indoors for a few days in order to isolate them for recording purposes, and for some, recovery from the castration procedure. The latter is a relatively minor surgical procedure and birds will need 24 h or so for recovery before they can be released into the outdoor cages. We are planning to transfer some of the isolation chambers currently at the UCSB aviaries to SNARL to use for temporary indoor housing. Birds would be put in the chambers immediately after capture, remain in them for 3 to 4 days, and then have their song repertoires recorded. Some birds would then be castrated (or sham castrated) and returned to the chambers. After 24 h, these birds would be transferred from the chambers to the outdoor cages. The birds will be recorded again in the chambers at the end of the season using T implants to encourage vocal output (early July).

Visit #11329 @Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory

Approved

Under Project # 4937 | Research

Cowbird Research

faculty - University of California, Santa Barbara

Reservation Members(s)

Group of 2 Research Assistant (non-student/faculty/postdoc) Apr 16 - Jul 18, 2007 (94 days)
Adrian O'Loghlen Apr 16 - Jul 18, 2007 (94 days)

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Q1 3 Apr 16 - Jul 18, 2007