A migratory sparrow has personality in winter that is independent of other traits

Small birds in winter face trade-offs between predation risk and foraging, and alternate life-history strategies may arise from these trade-offs. Animal personality shows similarities with alternative life-history strategies, and using a life-history context to understand personality can provide valuable insights. Golden-crowned sparrows, Zonotrichia atricapilla, a small migratory bird, have a complex winter social system with high site-fidelity, long-term social associations between individuals and competition mediated by badges of status. We asked whether golden-crowned sparrows show personalities during winter, whether these personalities were consistent over 3 years and whether they correlated with social and morphological traits. We found that golden-crowned sparrows had highly repeatable behaviours, as measured in captive behavioural assessments, constituting personalities consistent within one season and over time for up to 3 years, a time span that covers the average life span o...冬季小型鸟类需在捕食风险与觅食活动之间进行权衡，此类权衡或催生差异化的生活史策略。动物个性（animal personality）与差异化生活史策略存在高度相似性，从生活史视角解析动物个性可获得极具价值的研究洞见。金冠带鹀（Golden-crowned Sparrow，学名Zonotrichia atricapilla）是一种小型候鸟，其冬季社会系统结构复杂，兼具高栖息地保真度、个体间长期稳定的社会联结，以及通过地位徽章（badges of status）介导的种内竞争行为。本研究旨在探究金冠带鹀在冬季是否表现出动物个性，此类个性是否在三年内保持稳定，以及其是否与社会性状和形态性状存在关联。研究发现，通过圈养行为评估测得的金冠带鹀行为具有极高的可重复性，其个性在单个季节内以及长达三年的时间跨度内均保持稳定——该时间跨度覆盖了该物种的平均寿命……