Social network connections are positively related to temperature in winter flocks of black-capped chickadees

Social species often share with conspecifics the responsibilities of finding food, defending against predators or caring for young. Within a social group, individuals’ roles can be influenced by age, sex, and personality. Black-capped chickadees, Poecile atricapillus, are nonmigratory passerine birds that spend their winters living in social flocks. Due to the intense metabolic stress placed on chickadees by low winter temperatures, the role of flocking in resource localization and allocation among flockmates is an important aspect of individual fitness, especially during winter. Understanding changes in flock structure in response to the environment may provide insight into the consequences of social behaviour variability on overwinter survival. Here, we used social network analysis to quantify the effects of ambient temperature on social foraging behaviour in winter flocks of black-capped chickadees over two winters in Massachusetts, USA. Contrary to our expectations, we found that tw..., , , # Social network connections are positively related to temperature in winter flocks of black-capped chickadees

## Samantha E. Rothberg, Sarah E. Wolf, and Ethan D. Clotfelter

These data tabulate instances of bird feeder use for radiofrequency identification (RFID) banded black-capped chickadees. They also provide information about individuals' attributes. Data was collected in Amherst, Massachussetts from November to the end of February in both 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. The study conducted with this data observational and attempted to correlate flocking patterns with outside temperature.

The two files (**RFID_data_Yr1.csv** and **RFID_data_Yr1.csv**) contain each field season's RFID feeder data (2020-2021 and 2021-2022 respectively). A total of ten different RFID-enabled feeders were filled regularly throughout the 2020-2021 season. In 2021-2022, eight of the ten feeders were deployed at any one time over a slightly smaller area, and the other two were used as backups in case of damag...