Ronald L. Mumme - Research & Publications

Current Research

2010-Present: Plumage Pattern, Foraging Performance, Molt, and Parental Desertion in the Hooded Warbler

In spring 2010 I initiated a field study of Hooded Warblers, Setophaga (formerly Wilsonia) citrina) at Hemlock Hill Field Station located near Cambridge Springs in Crawford County, 16 miles NE of the Allegheny College campus. The initial focus of this study concerned the relationship between plumage pattern and foraging performance. In both males and females (pictured below), the outer three tail feathers have extensive white spots that the birds reveal by flicking their tails constantly during foraging, startling visually oriented winged insect prey that the warblers then pursue and capture in flight.

Since 2014, field work has focused on the relationship between tail molt and parental desertion of nestlings and fledglings. Hooded Warblers replace their rectrices (tail feathers) in late summer in preparation for fall migration, and as in other North American warblers, tail molt is practically simultaneous; all 12 rectrices drop within a few days of each other, and a molting bird is without a functional tail for about a week until the replacement feathers are partially grown (pictured below). About 70% of birds molting their tail before the end of parental care (nearly always males) desert their dependent nestlings or fledglings, leaving the mate (nearly always the female) responsible for all remaining parental care. Because the tail is a critical foraging adaptation for Hooded Warblers, feeding dependent young may be especially costly for birds in tail molt, leading to parental desertion.

Rectrix and primary molt in male Hooded Warblers. (A) Typical tail pattern prior to molt, showing white tail spots on outer rectrices 4–6. (B) Male in early stages of rectrix molt; 8 inner rectrices (left and right 1–4) are missing, but the 4 outermost rectrices (left and right 5–6) remain. (C) Male in complete simultaneous rectrix molt; all 12 rectrices are either missing or small pin feathers. (D) Status of primary molt for the male shown in C; primaries 1–4 are new and growing, primary 5 is missing, and primaries 6–9 are old and not yet molted.

My research on Hooded Warblers has received a modest amount of media coverage, including pieces in BirdwatchingDaily, Phys.org, EurekAlert!, The Wildlife Society, and elsewhere. Twenty-one Allegheny College students have worked collaboratively with me on the Hooded Warbler research: Kasey Schaef (Class of 2011), Danny Jacobs (Class of 2012), Stephanie Fort and Mike Vlah (Class of 2013), Jesse Kuehn, Kathleen Macie, and Rebekah Petroff (Class of 2014), Kathleen DiPerna (Class of 2015), Abby Hileman and Noah McNeill (Class of 2016), Kris Troy, Catherine Gillespie, Rachael Finigan, and Huno Micheal (Class of 2017), Amanda Fallon and Lee Ann Streshenkoff (Class of 2018), Brianna Kunes (Class of 2019), Soren Bruno and Ethan Glover-Bailey (Class of 2020), and Will Harrod and Claire Lignac (Class of 2021).

Selected Publications

Mumme, R. L. 2024. Spatial survival analysis accounts for female-biased breeding dispersal and provides realistic estimates of true annual survival in migratory warblers. Ornithological Applications 126:duae040. PDF

Mumme, R. L. 2023. Stabilizing selection on a plumage-based foraging adaptation: hooded warblers with average-sized white tail spots live longer. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 290: 20231752. PDF

Mumme, R. L., I. Chiver, L. J. Evans Ogden, and B. J. Stutchbury. 2023. Hooded Warbler (Setophaga citrina), version 2.0. In Birds of the World (P. G. Rodewald, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://birdsoftheworld.org/ bow/species/hoowar/2.0.

Lignac, C., and R. L. Mumme. 2023. Brood parasitism of Hooded Warblers by Brown-headed Cowbirds: Severe impact on individual nests but modest consequences for seasonal fecundity and conservation. Ornithological Applications 125:duac041. PDF.

Harrod, W. D., and R. L. Mumme. 2021. Females compensate for moult-associated male nest desertion in Hooded Warblers. Ibis 163:159-170. PDF.

Mumme, R. L., R. S. Mulvihill, and D. Norman. 2021. High-intensity flight feather molt and comparative molt ecology of warblers of eastern North America. Ornithology 138:ukaa072. PDF.

Mumme, R. L. 2018. The trade-off between molt and parental care in Hooded Warblers: Simultaneous rectrix molt and uniparental desertion of late-season young. The Auk: Ornithological Advances 135:427-438. PDF.

Mumme, R. L. 2014. White tail spots and tail-flicking behavior enhance foraging performance in the Hooded Warbler. The Auk: Ornithological Advances 131:141-149. PDF.

Schaef, K. M., and R. L. Mumme. 2012. Predator vocalizations alter parental return time at nests of the Hooded Warbler. The Condor 114:840-845. PDF.

2000-Present: Adaptation and Evolution of Plumage Pattern in Myioborus Redstarts

The Myioborus redstarts (also known as whitestarts) comprise 12 species of small insectivorous birds ranging from the southwestern United States to the southern Andes. All 12 species are noted for their white outer tail feathers and their animated foraging displays designed to startle and flush potential insect prey, which can then be pursued and captured in flight. During a spring 2000 sabbatic leave, I initiated a study of the flush-pursuit foraging behavior of the Slate-throated Redstart (Myioborus miniatus) in Monteverde, Costa Rica. I used tail-dyeing experiments to demonstrate that the white outer tail feathers are critical to flush-pursuit foraging success; experimental darkening of tail feathers significantly reduced the probability of flushing potential prey, prey attack rates, and feeding rates at nests. In collaboration with Jorge Pérez-Emán of the Universidad Central in Venezuela and Piotr Jablonski of Seoul National University in Korea, I am currently trying to understand the complex pattern of interspecific and intraspecific geographic variation in the amount of white in the tail and wings of Myioborus redstarts. Although I am no longer conducting field work in Costa Rica, I continue to analyze data collected during my five years of field research there, and examine geographic variation in plumage pattern by examination of museum specimens. My research in Costa Rica was supported by a grant from the Committee for Research and Exploration of the National Geographic Society.

Selected Publications

Harrod, W. D., and R. L. Mumme. 2022. Slate-throated Redstart (Myioborus miniatus), version 2.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.sltred.02.

Mumme, R. L. 2015. Demography of Slate-throated Redstarts (Myioborus miniatus): a non-migratory Neotropical warbler. Journal of Field Ornithology 86:89-102. PDF.

Mumme, R. L. 2010. Breeding biology and nesting success of the Slate-throated Whitestart (Myioborus miniatus) in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 122:29-38. PDF.

Pérez-Emán, J. L., R. L. Mumme, and P. G. Jablonski. 2010. Phylogeography and adaptive plumage evolution in Central American subspecies of the slate-throated redstart (Myioborus miniatus). Ornithological Monographs 67:90-102. PDF.

Mumme, R. L., M. L. Galatowitsch, P. G. Jablonski, T. M Stawarczyk, and J. P. Cygan. 2006. Evolutionary significance of geographic variation in a plumage-based foraging adaptation: an experimental test in the slate-throated redstart (Myioborus miniatus). Evolution 60:1086-1097. PDF.

Jablonski, P. G., K. Laseter, R. L. Mumme, M. Borowiecz, J. P. Cygan, J. Pereira, and E. Sergiej. 2006. Habitat-specific sensory-exploitative signals in birds: propensity of dipteran prey to cause evolution of plumage variation in flush-pursuit insectivores. Evolution 60:2633-2642. PDF.

Galatowitsch, M. L., and R. L. Mumme. 2004. Escape behavior of neotropical homopterans in response to a flush-pursuit predator. Biotropica 36:586-595. PDF.

Mumme, R. L. 2002. Scare tactics in a neotropical warbler: white tail feathers enhance flush-pursuit foraging performance in the Slate-throated Redstart (Myioborus miniatus). The Auk 119:1024-1035. PDF.

Previous Research

1986-2000: Behavioral Ecology and Conservation Biology of the Florida Scrub-Jay

For 15 years my research focused on the behavioral ecology and conservation biology of the Florida Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens), a threatened species that is restricted to the unique oak scrub of peninsular Florida. My research was designed to extend and complement the long-term demographic studies of this species by the late Glen E. Woolfenden, John W. Fitzpatrick, and their colleagues at Archbold Biological Station in Highlands County, Florida. Florida Scrub Jays are permanently monogamous and permanently territorial. About half of all breeding pairs share their territories with 1-6 nonbreeders that are usually independent offspring of the breeding pair and that usually act as helpers by assisting the resident breeders in rearing the young of subsequent broods. My research pursued four general themes; (1) an experimental analysis of the role of helpers in enhancing reproductive success of recipient breeders, (2) examination of the endocrinological basis of breeding suppression and helping behavior (in collaboration with Steve Schoech of the University of Memphis), (3) the demographic consequences of road mortality on source-sink population dynamics, and (4) the utility of translocation as a technique for restoration of this threatened and declining species.

Selected Publications

Mumme, R. L., R. Bowman, M. S. Pruett, and J. W. Fitzpatrick. 2015. Natal territory size, group size, and body mass affect lifetime fitness in the cooperatively breeding Florida Scrub-Jay. The Auk: Ornithological Advances 132:634-636. PDF.

Mumme, R. L., S. J. Schoech, G. E. Woolfenden, and J. W. Fitzpatrick. 2000. Life and death in the fast lane: demographic consequences of road mortality in the Florida Scrub-Jay. Conservation Biology 14:501-512. PDF.

Mumme, R. L., and T. H. Below. 1999. Evaluation of translocation for the threatened Florida Scrub-Jay. Journal of Wildlife Management 63:833-842. PDF.

Schoech, S. J., R. L. Mumme, and J. C. Wingfield. 1996. Prolactin and helping behaviour in the cooperatively breeding Florida scrub jay (Aphelocoma c. coerulescens). Animal Behaviour 52:445-456. PDF.

Schoech, S. J., R. L. Mumme, and J. C. Wingfield. 1996. Delayed breeding in the cooperatively breeding Florida scrub-jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens): inhibition or the absence of stimulation? Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 52:445-456. PDF.

Mumme, R. L. 1992. Do helpers increase reproductive success? an experimental analysis in the Florida Scrub Jay. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 31:319-328. PDF.

Schaub, R., R. L. Mumme, and G. E. Woolfenden. 1992. Predation on the eggs and nestlings of Florida Scrub Jays. The Auk 109:585-593. PDF.

1978-1986: Behavioral Ecology of the Acorn Woodpecker

For my Ph.D. dissertation research at the University of California, Berkeley, I participated in a long-term study of the ecology and social behavior of the Acorn Woodpecker at Hastings Reserve in the upper Carmel Valley, Monterey County, California. The Acorn Woodpecker has perhaps the most complex social system of any North American bird; it lives in permanently territorial family groups of 2-15 birds, generally containing 1-2 breeding females, 1-4 breeding males, and 0-10 nonbreeders that are typically group offspring produced in previous breeding seasons. In groups containing two co-breeding females (usually sisters or mother-daughter combinations), both females lay eggs in a single nest and cooperate to rear the young, a phenomenon called joint nesting. Similarly, in groups with two or more co-breeding males, the males are closely related (brothers or father-son combinations) and compete with one another for access to females during her fertile period prior to egg laying. My dissertation research focused on the mix of cooperation and competition that characterizes this species' complex social system.

Selected Publications

Koenig, W. D., E. L. Walters, P. B. Stacey, M. T. Stanback, and R. L. Mumme. 2020. Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (P. G. Rodewald and B. K. Keeney, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.acowoo.01.

Koenig, W. D., and R. L. Mumme. 1997. The great egg-demolition derby. Natural History 106(5):32-37.

Koenig, W. D., R. L. Mumme, W. J. Carmen, and M. T. Stanback. 1994. Acorn production by oaks in central coastal California: variation within and among years. Ecology 75:99-109. PDF.

Koenig, W. D., F. A. Pitelka, W. J. Carmen, R. L. Mumme and M. T. Stanback. 1992. Ecological factors and the evolution of delayed dispersal in cooperative breeders. Quarterly Review of Biology 67:111-150. PDF.

Mumme, R. L., W. D. Koenig, and F. A. Pitelka. 1990. Individual contributions to cooperative nest care in the Acorn Woodpecker. The Condor 92:360-368. PDF.

Mumme, R. L., W. D. Koenig, and F. A. Pitelka. 1988. Costs and benefits of joint nesting in the Acorn Woodpecker. The American Naturalist 131:654-677. PDF.

Koenig, W. D., and R. L. Mumme. 1987. Population ecology of the cooperatively breeding Acorn Woodpecker. Monographs in Population Biology 24, Princeton University Press.

Hannon, S. J., R. L. Mumme, R. L., W. D. Koenig, and F. A. Pitelka. 1985. Replacement of breeders and within-group conflict in the cooperatively breeding Acorn Woodpecker. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 17:303-312. PDF.

Mumme, R. L., and A. de Queiroz. 1985. Individual contributions to cooperative behaviour in the Acorn Woodpecker: effects of reproductive status, sex, and group size. Behaviour 95:290-313. PDF.

Mumme, R. L., W. D. Koenig, and F. A. Pitelka. 1983. Reproductive competition in the communal Acorn Woodpecker: sisters destroy each other's eggs. Nature 306:583-584. PDF.

Mumme, R. L., W. D. Koenig, and F. A. Pitelka. 1983. Mate guarding in the Acorn Woodpecker: within-group reproductive competition in a cooperative breeder. Animal Behaviour 31:1094-1106. PDF.

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