SeasonalBrains2006-2007

• Main Author: Tom Smulders
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Behavioral Neuroscience; Neuroscience; Evolutionary Biology; Zoology; Behavioural Ecology; Animal Behaviour; Animal Neurobiology; Seasonal changes; brain plasticity; memory; hoarding birds; caching; food storing; Paridae; Poecile montanus; Parus major; hippocampus; Parus; Pulli; Northern Finland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.25405/data.ncl.14696988.v2; https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/SeasonalBrains2006-2007_csv/14696988

METHODS Willow tit behavior We studied free-living willow tits in Oulu, northern Finland (65°N, 25°30'E), collecting data on 79 days between August 10 2005 and May 3 2006. We collected behavioral data on average every other day, except for the period from mid-December to late February when no observations were made. The sample sizes for the different months were (in days): 14 (August), 14 (September), 14 (October), 11 (November), 2 (December), 0 (January), 0 (February), 9 (March), 13 (April) and 2 (May). The study population was color-banded, thus mostly allowing individual identification, at least for the winter period. Birds were banded under Finnish Ringing Centre License number 180. This is part of MO's long-term ongoing population study on willow tits. No birds were banded especially for our study. The population study's protocols are to put metal bands on local pulli in the nest during the breeding season. From August to November, a constant banding effort uses mist nets to color band every willow tit they can catch on the field site, thus keeping all birds individually marked. Due to the color banding effort, the number of individually identifiable birds increased as the season progressed. At banding, age was scored as “adult” or “juvenile” using the shape of the rectrices as criterion (Svensson, 1992). The behavioral data were collected by seeking out bird flocks in their natural habitats in an area of mixed woodland approximately 3 x 2 km in size, without the aid of food supplements or territorial song playback. Observations took place between 0800 and 1500 hours with the majority before 1300 hours. Once located, a flock was followed for as long as possible, usually for about 10 to 20 minutes. Behavioral observations focused on a single individual (or occasionally two), following it in the binoculars (10x42) for as long as possible. Observations of under 15s were discarded from the analysis. The mean valid observation duration was 51s, with a range of 15 to 420s. The observations were dictated into a ...