Factors that affect territory size in Mountain White-Crowned Sparrows (<i>Zonotrichia leucophrys oriantha</i>)

Abstract

Male songbirds sing on the edge of their territory to warn away competing males. The mountain white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys oriantha) prefers to sing on the edge of willows and spruce trees. High quality territory is determined by the availability of food, water and shelter. Meanwhile, lower quality territory lacks these key resources and reduce the chances of the holding male’s breeding success. I hypothesized that perimeter and area of a territory are directly correlated to elevation. However, due to unexpected restrictions in sample size, my analysis was strictly descriptive. For this study, I walked through the willows and recorded the GPS coordinates of the singing spots of each male. The median total territory area was 4047.2 meters squared and a total territory perimeter of 83.2 meters squared. I constructed four GIS maps which allowed the visualization of the variety of territory shapes.

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