Researchers commonly use mist nets to study avian populations. Although studies have concluded that the risk of mortality from netting is low, few have examined the effect of minor injuries on long term survival. We used data on Cliff Swallows () consisting of 206 birds with leg injuries and 206 non-injured birds caught at the same time during mark-recapture in southwestern Nebraska, USA, 1986-2013. The injuries were primarily cuts from mist-net tangling around the legs and toes and often produced a small amount of bleeding. Mark-recapture analysis showed that the probability of apparent annual survival of injured birds was 0.52, which was similar to that of 0.51 for non-injured birds. Our results suggest that small cuts to the legs and toes of Cliff Swallows during mist-netting do not result in long-term harm and support the widely held assumption that mist-netting is in general safe even when minor injuries occur.

Beak abnormalities have been reported in a wide range of species but typically affect only a small portion (<1%) of wild bird populations. Most research has focused on the prevalence, morphology, and causes of beak deformities, resulting in relatively little information on the consequences of these deformities for individual birds. Birds with abnormal beaks likely struggle to feed themselves, a situation that can only be exacerbated during the breeding season when they must provide food for not only themselves but also their offspring. We captured a female house wren () with abnormal mandibles during the 2016 breeding season. The female was lighter and smaller than normal, and her clutch size smaller and incubation and nestling periods slightly longer than normal. Using video recordings at the nest, we found that early in the nestling period the female's provisioning rate was lower and her time spent brooding greater than normal, yet she succeeded in rearing a smaller-than-average brood. We conclude that the female's abnormal beak was a severe handicap negatively affecting both her condition and her provisioning ability; however, it did not preclude her from raising a brood of nestlings.

Female song in songbirds has historically been understudied compared to male song. Previous work by our lab found that female Orchard Oriole () song is acoustically reduced and more variable compared to male song. To investigate further, we categorically compared syllable usage between male and female Orchard Orioles. We created a syllable library by scoring three songs from each of 23 males and 16 females. We divided each song into syllables and visually classified syllables into syllable types. We found that individual males sang more syllable types (mean ±SD) (42.7 ± 8.2) than individual females (22.6 ± 5.0). We also found that females had a higher song versatility index (SVI) (59%) in syllable usage than males (41%). A greater proportion of female syllables were shared with males than with other females, whereas a similar proportion of male syllables were shared with other males as with females. Syllable sharing between the sexes suggests that there is no sex-specific syllable usage in Orchard Orioles. High SVI in female Orchard Orioles as well as high quantitative acoustic variability, found in previous work, suggests that female elaborate song may be subject to relaxed selection in this species. Comparisons of song at the syllable level can provide valuable insight into sex-specific song learning, geographic patterns, and social interactions.