Practicing utmost safety in the midst of the COVID pandemic and soaring summer temperatures, a UNT Ecology research team continued their ongoing investigation of the mysterious nesting habits of the Painted Bunting species at the Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area (LLELA).

"In April, we did not even know if the university would allow us to continue our research, but they gave us approval to proceed in early May with a number of COVID precautions in place," said professor Dr. Bednarz, who led the research team this season. "Believe me, wearing masks while making sure everybody is safely social distancing and not in danger of dehydration in the north Texas summer heat has been quite the challenge in itself."

Though this species of bird is popular for its brilliant "nonpareil" color pattern exhibited by the adult males, its breeding ecology has been surprisingly mysterious. UNT students have been taking the charge for years now to uncover answers regarding the birds' lesser-known characteristics, with a major focus on reproduction and nesting habits. UNT Ecology graduate students Christine Gurley and Katie Ceynar, post-bac student Taylor Payne, undergraduate Victoria Langham, and LLELA migratory bird researcher Grade Trankina were all part of the 2020 research team for this project.

From May through August, two graduate students and three team members at LLELA would meet up in the dark predawn hours 5-6 days a week. Despite needing to take many extra safety precautions such as social distancing and mask-wearing, the student team still succeeded in gathering a full season of data to analyze.

"We taught our new team members how to handle and safely process birds while wearing masks and maintaining 6-foot distances; our students watched and learned, often using binoculars from 6 feet away!" said Dr. Bednarz. "Some of our new strategies to capture and mark birds worked very well. On one incredible morning, the study team captured, processed, banded, and collected genetic samples from 28 Painted Buntings in just one small section of our study area."

The research team was pleased to report the locations of many more Painted Bunting nests, doubling their existing sample sizes and significantly increasing their knowledge of nest placement. They were also able to gather more genetic data from baby birds to enhance their paternity research. New techniques were implemented to adapt to the changing environment and incorporate information the team gathered from previous years.

"We had some astonishing success catching tricky individuals with a modified technique," said Christine Gurley. "We marked at least fifty new individuals in our study population, which was a very exciting experience for the team. Our research hints that perhaps baby birds born here last year are migrating back to the same place this year."

Another challenge the team has faced inspired a new aspect of their study to measure potential impacts of new construction near their research site. They expect this has changed bird behavior near the noisiest areas. "So far it does not appear to be a straightforward effect of permanently scaring birds away from the area," said Christine.

While the team is still currently being led by UNT Biological Sciences Professor Dr. Jim Bednarz, next year Katie Ceynar, a new UNT graduate student, will be taking over the field leadership position.

Read about the team's successful 2019 research season here: https://cos.unt.edu/news/unt-research-team-collaborates-solve-painted-bunting-mystery

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