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Begging behaviour in the white-browed scrubwren

(Sericornis frontalis)

  

For my Diplom project (= Masters or Honours degree) I studied the begging behaviour of white-browed scrubwrens in Dr R D Magrath's lab. I used an experimental set-up in the laboratory to determine whether and when nestling scrubwrens can distinguish parental alarm calls from other parental vocalizations. Surprisingly nestling scrubwrens begged for food when they heard parental alarm calls instead of going quiet.  The work was conducted in collaboration with C Donelly, M Leonard, A Horn  and has been published in Animal Behaviour. [PDF]
  Experimental set-up. The nestling scrubwren was placed in the cup in the middle of the box and its behaviour filmed and audio-recorded.