How do eastern bluebird songs signal individual quality and behavioral compatibility?

 

In sexual selection, individuals compete to obtain mates in order to maximize their reproductive fitness.  One way to obtain mates is to advertise their individual quality through signals.  An honest signal is a form of communication, such as plumage coloration or song rate, that is correlated with the individual's quality.  Therefore, only the highest quality signalers, can produce the highest quality signals.  To understand how honest signals undergo sexual selection, we need to understand how honest signals are related to individual quality.

 

I am currently studying the function of eastern bluebird song and its role as an honest signal of individual quality and behavioral compatibility.  Few studies have examined the role of eastern bluebird song in mate selection.  I plan to determine if the male loud song is correlated with individual quality, and if the predator alarm song, sung by both male and female bluebirds is a signal of behavioral compatibility between pair-bonded males and females.