Neophobia and parental care in collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis)

Abstract: Parental care can be important especially in passerine birds and can depend on environment, food availability and behaviour. A behaviour that can affect the food supply for the offspring is neophobia, the fear of novel objects. The more fear the bird exhibits the less it visits the nest with food. In my study I aimed to examine neophobia and how it differed based on sex and if offspring number and weight influenced the behaviour. Video recordings of collared flycatchers nest boxes were used to see how the behaviour differed by placing a novel object on the nest box. The behaviours tested were duration of perching, hovering and visit including latency and frequency of visit. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the sexes in duration, latency, and frequency of visit but also duration of perching before and after placing a novel object on the nest box. In addition, my results showed that nestling weight significantly influenced frequency of visit and nestling number influenced duration of visit. The study shows that the collared flycatchers do express neophobia differently based on the sex and the nestling’s weight and number. Future studies could investigate if neophobia is a plastic behaviour and the effects of prolonged exposure to novel objects whichcould change the offspring’s survival chances or even the nestling’s behaviour.