Differential effects of foraging strategies on carotenoid-derived plumage color and individual quality in stripe-tailed yellow finches

Carotenoid-based plumage color is crucial in avian mate selection, often serving as an indicator of individual quality. To determine whether carotenoid-derived color can be a sign of individual condition and if there is a relationship between an individual’s condition and color production, it is necessary to identify how carotenoids are acquired by individuals and subsequently used by the organism. Our objective was to determine how carotenoid pigments are used in the stripe-tailed yellow finch Sicalis citrina, a species wherein females exhibit a light yellowish ventral color while males are bright yellow. By using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses we were able to determine if these carotenoid-derived colors are a signal of individual condition in terms of physiological stress and body condition. Females with low δmode_comment13C values (≈ −18‰) indicating the consumption of C3 and C4 seeds, exhibited colors shifted toward longer wavelengths and better body condition, and thos..., We carried out fieldwork to capture stripe-tailed yellow finches in the Brasília National Park during two breeding seasons: 2018/2019, and 2019/2020. We identified seven sites of greatest activity of individuals and set up three to five mist nets in the morning, totaling a minimum capture effort of 2268 h.m² per site. To maximize capture success, we changed the locations of mist nets daily, setting up the mist nets in the territories of the males we heard singing and/or displaying. We captured about 1 to 3 individuals at a time and as soon as they were captured, we (who were in hiding) removed them from mist nests. We banded all captured individuals with metal bands provided by CEMAVE (Brazilian National Center for Research and Conservation of Wild Birds), and a unique combination of colored plastic bands. We identified females as those individuals with incubation patches and males by their complete yellow plumages, sampling only these males since our focus is on carotenoid pigments. We..., , # Differential effects of foraging strategies on carotenoid-derived plumage color and individual quality in stripe-tailed yellow finches

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.73n5tb37j](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.73n5tb37j)

## Description of the data and file structure

Our objective was to determine how carotenoid pigments are used in the stripe-tailed yellow finch *Sicalis citrina*, a species wherein females exhibit a light yellowish ventral color while males are bright yellow. By using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses we were able to determine if these carotenoid-derived colors are a signal of individual condition in terms of physiological stress and body condition. Our data is available in CSV format, where each column represents a variable and each row contains the data of a capture.

### Files and variables

#### File: data\_for\_JAVBIO.csv

##### Variables

* ID: individual idetification
* sex: Sex
* carot type: Types of carotenoids identified:
* L: Lutein
* A: Alfa...