Guest Post: Jesse

Hello! I’m Jesse, a graduate student at the University of Guelph working on the long-term Savannah Sparrow project here on Kent Island.  For my MSc, I am studying the effects of acute stress on fitness in the population of Savannah Sparrows breeding on the island. Using a combination of field experiments and observational data, I am examining the relationship between early life stress and subsequent survival during the pre-migratory period, and the effects of stress on migratory behaviour.  Sparrows, like humans, experience stressful events on a daily basis that initiate the release of hormones to cope with acute stressors.  These stress hormones play an important role in determining the survival prospects of individuals by regulating internal processes (i.e. immune function, metabolism, etc.).  To gain a better understanding of how and why stress hormones are so important for birds, we are treating nestlings with either a ‘hormone cocktail’ – a stress hormone (corticosterone) dissolved in peanut oil – or simply peanut oil as a control, while they are still in the nest.  Once the Sparrows fledge, we will then attempt to recapture them before they depart the island for warmer climes to determine how the experimental birds have faired compared to the control individuals.  The remaining Sparrows will then be outfitted with these very stylish ‘backpacks’ (all the rage in the Sparrow world, see pictures below) – called geolocators – to track their migratory movements in autumn and spring, and to figure out where these lucky birds are vacationing for the winter.  What a life…