Case Study - Red Winged blackbirds

Worksheet

1. What is the difference between a male and female red-winged blackbird?

Males that are at least two years old are black with red patches on their wings.

Females are brown and streaked below; they look something like big sparrows.

2. What are wing patches of the males called?

Epaulets.

3. What are possible reasons that male red-winged blackbirds display their epaulets and sing from certain perches?

To defend their territories against other male red-winged blackbirds or to attract females to mate with them and to nest on their territories.

4. List the four questions that arise when discussing the song spread of red-winged blackbirds.

1) What causes males to perform it?

2) How does it develop?

3) What is its evolutionary history?

4) What is the function of singing?

5. Do you think that song spread is innate or do you think that it is learned? State your opinion and then state a testable hypothesis. Also, defend your answer by giving a brief description of a study that you would do to test your hypothesis.

Make sure it is a hypothesis and not a prediction. A hypothesis is an explanation or a theoretical model. A prediction is an IF-THEN statement about an observable result.