My pronouns are she/her
I am looking at how within-individual, intraspecific and interspecific morphological variations affect flight performance and social interactions. I am tracking the morphology and flight performance of zebra finches from the day they fledge into adulthood to understand the natural development of flight in the Oxford Flight Group-Taylor Lab. Later, I aim to study how social interactions may take part in this morphology-performance relationship. In the Wytham Woods, I plan to measure the flight morphology close to fledging and the first flight performance of the Tit species. Ideally, I may be able to recapture some of them in the following winter and breeding season to understand the effect of first flight performance on their life afterwards. The winter field season will also involve measuring flight performance and social interactions after a temporary body mass decline, under predator pressure applied by a sparrowhawk model.
