Date and Time: <\/strong>October 16, 2025, at 5:30 PM\u00a0 Dr. Webster will present a broad overview of his long-term research aimed at understanding the evolution and function of the striking plumage and songs of Australian fairywrens. <\/p>\n\n\n Australian Fairywrens are small wrenlike birds with splashy plumage and behaviors that match. It took just one day for Webster to get hooked on Australian fairywrens while visiting Australia. \u201cThey\u2019re fun,\u201d he says, \u201cthey\u2019re interesting and they have a lot of interesting behavior.\u201d Those features fueled decades long research by Webster and his students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBirds use their coloration, their visual signals, their voice, their songs, to talk to each other, to communicate,\u201d says Webster, \u201cand we barely know anything about why they do that, how they do that, what shapes the diversity.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n His work shows that in some populations, while females tend to prefer brightly colored males, there are breeding males who don\u2019t look like other males. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt comes down to costs and constraints,\u201d he says, \u201cand that\u2019s what we\u2019ll be talking about in the lecture.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Webster says he will share his ground-breaking work and his passion for his research during the talk: \u201cThere\u2019s so much that\u2019s fascinating about bird coloration and song.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n About Dr. Webster:<\/strong> Dr. Webster is the Faculty Director of the Macaulay Library, a media collection dedicated to capturing and preserving photos, sound, and video recordings of the behaviors of wild birds and other animals. He is also the Robert G. Engle Professor of Ornithology in Cornell University\u2019s Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, where he teaches courses on animal communication and behavior. His fascination with animal behavior began in childhood, spending time outdoors and exploring wild places. Dr. Webster earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, San Diego, and a PhD from Cornell University, where his dissertation focused on the behavior of a Neotropical bird, the Montezuma Oropendola. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This lectureship was established in honor of the late Paul Mundinger who received his PhD in Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Virtual Attendance: <\/strong>The Mundinger lecture will also be streamed live via Zoom. <\/strong>Click to join<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Location:<\/strong> Room B25, Warren Hall, on the Cornell University campus and streamed live.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0
Title: <\/strong>Feathers Down Under: Exploring the evolution of sexual signals in Australian fairywrens\u00a0
This lecture is free and open to the public. <\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nMore Cornell Lab News<\/h2>
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