Postnatal dispersal and drivers of successful recruitment in resident Poecile gambeli(Mountain Chickadee)

Many animals disperse from their natal sites as juveniles to settle in new locations where they may eventually breed. Estimating distances of such postnatal dispersal within and across populations, as well as identifying factors affecting recruitment success, is important for understanding evolutionary consequences of dispersal. We investigated patterns of postnatal dispersal and identified predictors of successful recruitment in highly resident Mountain Chickadees (Poecile gambeli) using data on 326 recruits of 5,226 total fledglings detected at winter feeders (recruitment into winter flocks) and nest boxes (recruitment into the breeding population) over 12 years at two elevational sites in the northern Sierra Nevada, USA. Like most Parids, chickadees dispersed close to their natal sites (median distance 644m). Dispersal distance was not associated with fledgling mass, but females dispersed significantly longer distances than males. When only considering dispersal distances based on re..., , , # Postnatal dispersal and drivers of successful recruitment in resident Poecile gambeli (Mountain Chickadee)

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.zcrjdfnq7](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.zcrjdfnq7)

## Description of the data and file structure

Data presented here were collected as part of a long-term study on Mountain Chickadee reproduction and behavior. We maintained ~350 nest boxes split between two elevational sites in the Sagehen Experimental Forest, California, USA. We recorded first egg date, clutch size, brood size (number of nestlings that survived to day 16), and nestling mass on day 16. All nestlings hatched in boxes were banded with an aluminum band from the USGS Bird Banding Laboratory. Birds were recaptured as adults either at nest boxes during breeding or at bird feeders during autumn or winter. We collected GPS coordinates of all of our boxes and feeders to calculate dispersal distances. Birds recaptured at feeders were considered recruits into winter flocks and birds recapt...,