Every flight begins with a take-off, and often the outcome of predator escape is determined in milliseconds at this energetically demanding moment. I am interested in how birds develop their take-off flight and use it in the wild to its physical limit during predator escape.
To understand how take-off flight develops, I have recorded take-off flights of captive zebra finches from fledging to maturity using motion capture cameras and force balance indoors. To study the effect of predatory encounters on morphology, behaviour, and social information, I simulate predator encounters using a video of an approaching hawk towards a feeder in the field. The feeder is fitted with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) antenna, a 1kHz force sensor, 20 infrared sensors, and 3 Raspberry Pi cameras to log body weight, force at take-off, flight speed, and posture.
behaviour, ecology, ornithology, physiology
