Strong seasonality of high‐latitude environments imposes temporal constraints on forage availability and quality for keystone herbivores in terrestrial arctic ecosystems, including hyper‐abundant colonial geese. Changes in food quality due to intraspecific competition, or food availability relative to the breeding phenology of birds, may have consequences for growth and survival of young. We used long‐term data (1993‐2014) from the Karrak Lake nesting colony in the Canadian central arctic to study relative roles of density and phenological...

1. Variation in offspring development is expected to be driven by constraints on resource allocation between growth and maintenance (e.g., thermoregulation). Rapid post-natal development decreases predation risk, while inclement weather likely prolongs development. For taxa with parental care, parental behaviour may buffer offspring against some extrinsic drivers. 2. Using a 7-year dataset from an alpine population of horned lark Eremophila alpestris, a ground-nesting songbird in northern British Columbia, Canada, we investigated multiple potential drivers of...

Latitudinal differences in timing of breeding are well documented but how such differences carry over to influence timing of events in the annual cycle of migratory birds is not well understood. We examined geographic variation in timing of events throughout the year using light-level geolocator tracking data from 133 migratory tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) originating from 12 North American breeding populations. A swallow’s breeding latitude influenced timing of breeding, which then carried over to affect...

Three species of closely related woodpeckers (sapsuckers; Sphyrapicus) hybridize where they come into contact, presenting a rare ‘λ‐shape’ meeting of hybrid zones. Two of the three arms of this hybrid zone are located on either side of the Interior Plateau of British Columbia, Canada bordering the foothills of the Coast Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. The third arm is located in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The zones of hybridization present high variability...

The seabird tick (Ixodes uriae) parasitizes over 60 host species in the circumpolar regions of both hemispheres, and acts as a vector for a number of potentially virulent pathogens. On Triangle Island, British Columbia, Canada, the nestlings of Cassin’s Auklet (Ptychoramphus aleuticus) and Rhinoceros Auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata) are often parasitized by seabird ticks, which may affect their growth and survival in the nest. We used a logistic growth model to interpolate between successive measures of...