Shelby Palmer a biology graduate student at Missouri State University and a native of Warrensburg, MO, is conducting a master’s thesis research project studying songbirds called chickadees, "a spunky and adorable group of tiny birds that frequently visit bird feeders." The purpose of her research is to try to find a characteristic of chickadee song that is controlled by their genetics, something that they cannot learn or unlearn. "Sure, a Carolina chickadee can learn to sing the same number of notes, at the same pitch, and in the same order as a Black-capped chickadee…but is there some much more cryptic characteristic of a Black-capped song that a Carolina is not able to copy due to differences in their DNA?" asks Palmer. This characteristic would probably be difficult to discern by the human ear, but it could be found using sound analysis software…and answering this question could give us an idea of which genes, if any, control song development in chickadees and other songbirds.
Chickadees are split into several different species, two of them being the Black-capped chickadee and the Carolina chickadee, which mate and produce hybrid offspring where they share habitat.
Palmer is interested in the genetic makeup and the vocal behavior of these hybrid birds, and it just so happens that the very narrow zone of overlap where Black-capped and Carolina chickadees co-exist runs right between southern Clinton and northern Deepwater.
Due to the narrowness of this zone of overlap and the lack of usable public land in the area, options for study sites have been limited.
Palmer is requesting assistance from local landowners to allow the researcher to use their property to study these hybrid chickadees and attempting to build public interest in science and songbirds.
Palmer has outlined her research process for landowners as follows "This process involves setting up large, fine nets called mist-nets that are nearly invisible to the naked eye and playing chickadee sounds from a speaker to lure the birds into the nets. I then remove the birds from the nets, take body measurements and a small blood sample, and put a unique combo of colored plastic bands on their legs so that I can identify them in the future. Then I set them free, take down the nets, and move on to the next site. The very best places to make mist-net captures are near bird feeders, since chickadees visit them often and are more likely to hear and respond to the false-chickadee lure sounds from my speaker.
The second need is recordings of songs sung by the same chickadees blood samples are gathered from In the spring breeding season, when chickadee singing is at its maximum, some field assistants and Palmer will return to old capture sites with sound recording equipment, find the captured birds, and record their songs, paying attention to the combination of colored bands on the legs of the singing birds so that we can pair a song recording with its respective DNA sample. "We’ll likely have to return to these sites several times during the spring to make sure we have recorded every song an individual bird can sing. " Palmer and her team are available to answer any questions potential landowner volunteers may have and welcome the interest from the community. Palmer is passionate about these Species and hopes to ignite some passion in others regarding the spunky little birds that are unique to this area. For questions or to offer assistance pleas contact Shelby Palmer at (Palmer904@live.missouristate.edu) call at (660)864-4222
