The brown-headed nuthatch- a twenty year study of bird choices

Tall Timbers Research Station north of Tallahassee, Florida, conducts research into the ecology of the fire dependent longleaf pine ecosystem. We head up to Tall Timbers to look at a long-term study of a small but fascinating resident of longleaf forests- the brown headed nuthatch. This bird is a cooperative breeder, meaning that no all of the birds that fledge the nest leave the family group. Some males stay and help raise young the following year. Only 10% of all bird species do this, and it's not well understood why they do.
Jim Cox, Director of the Stoddard Lab at Tall Timbers, has been conducting a study of this behavior for the last twenty years. By banding the birds and tracking them, he hopes to learn why they stay or why they go, and how far they go.
We start by visiting several nests in search of birds to band. Over their lives and the lives of their descendants, Jim and his team will collect data to better understand why they mak the choices they make.
For a deeper dive into the lives of brown-headed nuthatches, visit the WFSU Ecology Blog: