Territoriality and Vocal Communication in Chipping Sparrows

The goal of this project is to study the behavior and ecology of chipping sparrows, a species of songbird that is abundant on the UMass Amherst campus during the spring.  These birds migrate north to Amherst in early to mid April, when the males establish territories and start to sing. Chipping sparrows are thought to use their songs as "keep-out" signals to potential territorial rivals, and also to attract potential mates. The current project, which we are just starting, will build on the research of Dr. Sarah Goodwin, who as doctoral student in the Podos lab studied Chipping sparrows in Western Massachusetts. Two of Sarah's main findings were that male territorial rivals sometimes join forces to defend territories against third party intruders, and that temporary coalitions could be predicted by the structure of the songs birds sing (please see the attached representative publication below). For this project we aim to expand on Sarah's work. During the early mornings of April and May, we will work in pairs to scout out birds across campus. When we sight birds we will mark their locations so as to document their territories, and will also record the birds' songs using cell phones and then more specialized recording equipment. Our group will also capture birds to take their measurements and to mark them with metal and color bands for field identification. Main project goals will be to characterize variation among birds in their vocal and territory attributes, to document disputes among territorial males (including boundary shifts or full-scale take-overs), to observe the formation of temporary alliances among rival neighbors, and to assess potential shifts in singing and social behavior on daily and seasonal time scales.