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Sarah measured nestling American Robins every other day throughout their development before returning them to the safety of their nest. This young robin is approximately three days away from being old enough to leave the nest.

Congratulations to Sarah Winnicki, who received the A. Brazier Howell Award from the American Ornithological Society for their presentation on how egg-laying order impacts the growth of American Robin nestlings. Sarah presented work following up on their previous findings that robin eggs varied with laying order (hormone content, size), that nestlings hatched asynchronously, and that nestling growth trajectories varied within the same clutch. Their previous results generated additional questions: was the observed growth variation among nestlings a product of laying order or delayed hatching? To address this, Sarah carried out a combination of experimental manipulations and field observations to observe the impact of laying order on the growth trajectory of robin nestlings. They found that laying order alone predicted mass gain, but only the age at which the nestlings reached their maximum growth, and that maximum size and growth rate were not significantly impacted by laying order. Sarah is following up with analyses to assess the growth of individual body parts (e.g. feathers, bill, tarsus).

Each year, the American Ornithological Society (AOS) bestows Student Presentation Awards on students at all levels (undergraduate, masters, and doctoral) who present outstanding posters or oral presentations at their annual meeting. The A. Brazier Howell Award honors the best presentation on any topic in ornithology, and Sarah’s presentation was selected for this recognition from 144 student presentations. This is a terrific capstone for Sarah’s dissertation work here in PEEC.

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These young American Robins are less than 24 hours old (and their sibling has not even left the egg yet!) and they cannot open their eyes yet, but they can beg for their parents to feed them. All nests were monitored by professionals with permits.

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This American Robin patiently waited, earthworm meal in beak, while Sarah measured the nestlings in her nest. As soon as Sarah returned the babies to the safety of the nest, this parent swooped in and fed the growing babies.

A. Brazier Howell Award

Given for the best presentation on any topic in ornithology

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