Stabilizing selection on a plumage-based foraging adaptation: hooded warblers with average-sized white tail spots live longer.

Abstract excerpt

Avian flush-pursuit insectivores typically use contrasting white plumage patches in their tails or wings to startle potential prey. Although experimental evidence indicates that the extent of white has been fine-tuned by natural selection to optimize foraging performance, the hypothesis that within-population plumage variation directly influences survival or lifetime reproduction and is subject to stabilizing...

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