COLOR BANDS, COMBS AND COVERABLE BADGES IN WILLOW PTARMIGAN

Willow ptarmigan, Lagopus lagopus, possess red supra-orbital combs. If this secondary sexual structure is important in attracting mates or in male-male competition, then colour banding males with red or orange bands (RO) could influence their pairing and reproductive success, survival and the amount of aggression directed towards them. Males with RO bands did not have more mates than those without RO bands, nor did males unbanded in year x improve their pairing success in year x+1 when they were given RO bands. In a female removal experiment, males with RO bands did not have more females settling on their territories than males with other band colours. Number of chicks fledged from successful nests and annual survival did not differ for RO and non-RO males. Monogamous and polygynous males had similar comb areas, which were larger than the combs of unmated males. When pairing status was controlled, comb area was not related to annual survival or number of chicks fledged. Males with RO bands did not have larger combs than non-RO males. Area of comb was correlated with territory size in years of high breeding density, but not in years of low breeding density. Radiotagged non-territorial males did not preferentially intrude upon the territories of males with RO bands and song rates, number of border disputes, mean length of border disputes, and territorial intrusion rates did not differ significantly for RO and non-RO males. These results suggest that colour-banding willow ptarmigan with red colour bands does not have a negative or positive effect on reproductive success or survival, and thus the data do not support the coverable badge hypothesis.