Questions

Since beginning these observations, and even before, I have had a lot of questions about the behavior of these birds running through my head. For now I will hash them out and later see if I can sort of narrow it to one.

1.) The first that I thought of, whether or not these birds are capable of recognizing individuals other than intraspecifically (I may have made that up). It has become clear to me PAJA Pair 1 are more defensive each year I have worked here. I think they are capable, like corvids and some terns, of recognizing individual observers, especially those that have disturbed them in some way. Thence, recognizing those individuals and behaving more, or in some cases, less aggressively.

2.) Another, and one I have loosely tested in my observations, is a question of how close to a nest can a potential predator or observer be, for the birds to begin defensive behaviors. Also, does the distance increase the closer the eggs are to hatching or the adults are brood-rearing? Additionally, do the defensive behaviors become more aggressive depending on if they have a full clutch (2 eggs) versus a single egg (as may also be the case with Pair 1's extreme aggressiveness compared to Pair 2)?

3.) In all of the literature I have read, it appears that it is more common (61% of birds measured) for males to be dark-mophs. I question if this is the case with breeding populations here with my own observations of Pair 1 over the years. As I have mentioned before, I believe the dark-morph of this pair is larger than the intermediate (as females are larger) and it was the primary attending parent when the chicks had hatched in previous years. There really is no way to test this unless I was to be on a project studying these birds by trapping and getting measurements and blood samples. But, when the eggs do hatch, it might be possible to observe the brood-rearing behavior to get a feasible idea.

4.) Just through some of my recent observations, and to coincide with the first question, what constitutes a potential threat or predator to these birds, and if they recognize those that are not worth spending their time and energy to defend against. Along with, is there a distance the potential threat has to be in proximity to the nest for the bird(s) to initiate defensive behaviors?

Again, throwing these out there mostly so I can think about them more, and how each could possibly be tested and answered.