Black-throated Blue Warbler
grrlscientist | June 24, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Dendroica caerulescens, social information, habitat selection, vegetation structure, location cues, dispersal, Matthew G Betts
Male Black-throated Blue Warbler, Dendroica caerulescens, with nestlings.
Image: S. Maslowski, USFWS [larger view].
Wild songbirds must be able to quickly discriminate between different habitats so they can choose and establish a suitable breeding territory. Since even older, experienced breeding songbirds lose roughly 50% of their chicks to predators, even a small mistake in choosing a breeding territory…