Ellen Harvey - Ph.D. student

I am interested in the study of personality, or behavioral profiles, in non-human animals. My current work is with Carolina chickadees - a socially and vocally complex avian species. Chickadees form pair bonds and maintain these female-male bonds throughout the year, sometimes over multiple years. I am currently testing the extent to which behavioral profiles affect behavior when individuals are alone and in the presence of their mates. Individuals are exposed to a series of tests across a range of diverse contexts (such as in social interaction, foraging, and predation situations). Questions of interest include: do individuals differ on behavioral responses when in the presence of a flockmate (or mate) compared to when alone? Are behavioral responses consistent across the differing contexts? Is there stability of behavior when environmental conditions are changed?

• Harvey, E. M. & Freeberg, T. M. (2007). Behavioral consistency in a changed social context in Carolina chickadees. J. Gen. Psychol., 134, 229-245.
• Freeberg, T. M. & Harvey, E. M. (2008). Group size and social interactions are associated with calling behavior in Carolina chickadees, Poecile carolinensis. J. Comp. Psychol., 122, 312-318.

Jessica Owens - Ph.D. student

• Owens, J. L. & Freeberg, T. M. (2007). Variation in chick-a-dee calls of tufted titmice, Baeolophus bicolor: note type and individual distinctiveness. J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 122, 1216-1226.

Ami Padget - Masters student

I am interested in the study of captive animal behavior and welfare. I am currently conducting zoo research on a South American avian species, the red-legged seriema (Cariama cristata). Seriemas have been understudied and not much is known about their behavior or natural history. This study is focused on recording and analyzing vocal and non-vocal behavior of captive individuals. I am currently traveling to US institutions that house and exhibit seriemas in order to record vocalizations and behavior. My goal is to examine call structure and function in this species using playbacks, predator models, and novel stimuli. I aim to complete an ethogram of red-legged seriema behavior and to provide institutions with behavioral information that will aid in the captive management of this species.

Sheri Browning - Masters student

Ellen Mahurin - Masters Degree (2006)

Feeding behavior and chick-a-dee calls in the presence of predator models: a field study of Carolina chickadees, Poecile carolinensis.

• Mahurin, E. J. & Freeberg, T. M. (In Press). Chick-a-dee call variation in Carolina chickadees and recruiting flockmates to food. To appear in Behavioral Ecology..

Todd Freeberg - Assistant Professor

Currently listening to Wire, Nina Simone, Sigur Ros, The Damned, Public Image Ltd., and Lee 'Scratch' Perry