Field study of the relationship between personality and reproductive strategy in the White‐collared Blackbird Turdus albocinctus

Abstract

The discovery of personality traits in animal populations may help to explain individual variation in breeding strategies. In the White‐collared Blackbird Turdus albocinctus, females, but not males, exhibited different nest defence behaviours that can be used to classify them into bold and shy personalities. Bold females had higher nest success, lower fecundity and higher parental investment than shy females, and the social mates of bold females had lower parental investment than that of shy females. Our findings suggest that the reproductive strategy of birds may be closely related to their personality traits.