The fat and weight cycle in Wisconsin juncos

Abstract

Our study was aimed at answering three specific questions. First, do wild Juncos in Wisconsin exhibit spring premigratory fat deposition. Second, it has been reported that during the winter, fat deposits and body weights are high during cold periods and lower during warm spells: in other words fat condition is inversely temperature-dependent. Our second objective then was to get large samples of weights and fat conditions under a variety of winter weather conditions in order to test the reality of the inverse temperature-dependence claimed by others. Third, we wanted to investigate the diurnal patterns of fat deposition.