Catbird Mating Behavior
Humans, like all other animals, affect their environment. How much they affect it is most obvious in and around cities. Scientists continue to document the affect of urbanization and habitat change on biological diversity.
This relationship is intuitive. For example, when we raze a forest to build a parking garage, we force the forest animals to move or adapt to the new environment.
The extent of this affect on wildlife, however, varies dramatically. Some animals are resilient and adaptable to human-modified environments.
Many kinds of birds can readily live in urban environments with limited forest cover. In fact, Neighborhood Nestwatch, a citizen science program based in the Washington, D.C. area, has spent 8 years documenting nesting and survival of many of these winged urban friends.
This year (2008) Neighborhood Nestwatch is launching another component, raising questions about the mating behavior of gray catbirds. How does habitat modification influence catbirds' mate choices and parenting behavior?
In this study, gray catbird nests are located and monitored. The adults are color-banded so they can be uniquely identified and small blood samples are being taken from parents and chicks. These samples will enable us to use genetic techniques to perform paternity tests.
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