Alyssa J. Sargent

University of Washington Seattle | UW · Department of Biology

Hummingbirds have two main foraging strategies: territoriality (defending a patch of flowers) and traplining (foraging over routine circuits of isolated patches). Species are often classified as employing one or the other. Not only have these strategies been inconsistently defined within the behavioral literature, but this simple framework also neg...

• Bespoke (custom-built) Raspberry Pi cameras are increasingly popular research tools in the fields of behavioral ecology and conservation, because of their comparative flexibility in programmable settings, ability to be paired with other sensors, and because they are typically cheaper than commercially built models. • Here, we describe a novel, Ra...

Nectar-feeding birds employ unique mechanisms to collect minute liquid rewards hidden within floral structures. In recent years, techniques developed to study drinking mechanisms in hummingbirds have prepared the groundwork for investigating nectar feeding across birds. In most avian nectarivores, fluid intake mechanisms are understudied or simply...

The formerly endangered Kirtland's warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii) is among a growing number of conservation‐reliant species that depend on active management to avoid reverting to endangered status. Because the Kirtland's warbler is a habitat specialist of young, even‐aged jack pine (Pinus banksiana), managers of the recovery effort stressed creatin...

Nectar‐feeding birds provide an excellent system in which to examine form‐function relationships over evolutionary time. There are many independent origins of nectarivory in birds, and nectar feeding is a lifestyle with many inherent biophysical constraints. We review the morphology and function of the feeding apparatus, the locomotor apparatus, an...