Hastings Natural History Reservation

16 May, 03 PM - 21 May, 04 AM

Partial migration is common throughout the animal kingdom and has been studied intensively over the last century; however, our understanding of how partially migratory systems are controlled remains limited. Recent studies indicate that personality, which differs between closely related migrant and resident bird species, may also differ between individuals with differing migratory strategies within a partially migratory population. The purpose of this study is to determine whether aspects of personality such as aggression and neophobia differ between migrants and residents in a partially migratory population of Western Bluebirds (Sialia mexicana). This study is among the first to investigate whether migratory strategy and personality are correlated within a population, and the results will provide insight into the strength of the relationship between migration and cognition. While the majority of this study will take place in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada, I would also like to conduct a subset of personality experiments on the Western Bluebird population at Hastings, where bluebirds are year-round residents, in order to be able to compare results from known residents with those obtained from the partially migratory population in BC.

Visit #28655 @Hastings Natural History Reservation

Approved

Under Project # 25346 | Research

Links between personality and migratory strategy in Western Bluebirds

graduate_student - Queen's University

Reservation Members(s)

Catherine Dale May 16 - 21, 2012 (6 days)

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