Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center

28 Dec, 04 AM - 31 Dec, 04 AM

Costa?s Hummingbirds (Calypte costae) are found in extreme desert environments. The change in temperature from cold winter to hot summer during the breeding season may impose environmental stresses that may constraint proper song development. It would be expected that higher quality individuals may overcome these challenges to be able to produce attractive songs. Therefore, song should be an honest advertisement of health, attractiveness and male quality. I predict that there should be correlations between song and the morphological and behavioral characters of male Costa?s Hummingbirds. Specifically, I predict that song bout rate, amplitude, peak and maximum frequency, and the mean and the variance in the upsweep of the song will correlate with the size of the males. Larger males will also hold larger territories with more flowering plants. Furthermore, I will explore the possible correlation between song and morphological and behavioral characters in juvenile male Costa?s Hummingbird. I predict that larger juvenile males will develop song quicker and successfully hold a territory. My research will take place at Boyd Deep Canyon Research Center, Riverside County, California. The results from this research will lead to a better understanding of song evolution in the genus Calypte and broadly, of avian song evolution. The purpose of this trip is to scout for male Costa's Hummingbird that might have established a territory.

Visit #20001 @Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center

Approved

Under Project # 19608 | Research

Correlates of Costa's Hummingbird, Calypte costae, song

graduate_student - California State University (CSU), Fullerton

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Uyen Tran Dec 28 - 31, 2009 (4 days)

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Mayhew housing facilities 1 Dec 28 - 31, 2009
Lab Space 1 Dec 28 - 31, 2009