POSTFLEDGING PARENTAL CARE IN THE WHITE-THROATED SPARROW (ZONOTRICHIA-ALBICOLLIS)

We studied parental care in White-throated Sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) during the last 4 days of the nestling period and the first 4 days of the fledgling period. Both parents made more provisioning trips and delivered more food to fledglings than to nestlings. Though male and female parents provided nestlings with equal amounts of food, female parents provided fledglings with more food than did male parents. Fledglings received fewer items per trip than did nestlings. This suggests that fledging was associated with a change in parental foraging strategies. Postfledging parental care did not differ between broods from late nests and broods that were to be followed by a second nesting attempt.