@article{594e7f46e1a34d92bc1fc327fa8638b8,
title = "An Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) Transporting Snails During Spring Migration",
abstract = "Organisms with limited motility may use animal transport as a mechanism for dispersal. Migratory birds can provide a vehicle to move small organisms great distances, which may allow them access to areas that are otherwise inaccessible. During normal mist netting operations at a spring migration banding station along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast in Louisiana, USA, we encountered an Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) with numerous snails, possibly Galba cubensis, underneath its breast feathers. While encounters of songbirds carrying snails appear rare, long-distance migrating songbirds represent a possible mechanism to transport small snails great distances to expand ranges, colonize new areas, or maintain genetic continuity.",
keywords = "INHS, Chenier, Snails, Migration, Louisiana, Gulf of Mexico, Stopover, Animal transport",
author = "Zenzal, {Theodore J.} and Lain, {Emily J.} and Sellers, {J. Michael}",
note = "Funding Information: This research was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF; IOS 844703) awarded to F. R. Moore and Louisiana Ornithological Society research grants awarded to TJZ and EJL. TJZ was supported by the NSF GK-12 program {\textquoteleft}{\textquoteleft}Molecules to Muscles{\textquoteright}{\textquoteright} (no. 0947944) and the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium (NA14OAR4170089). We would like to thank the Grey Estate for allowing us to conduct research on their property, the 2010 Johnson Bayou field technicians, and members of the Migratory Bird Research Group. We are grateful to R. Prezant and R. Dillon for the identification of snails as well as two anonymous reviewers for improving the manuscript. Finally, we would like to thank the University of Southern Mississippi, University of Delaware, and University of Illinois for computing time and support. Permission to capture wild birds was granted by the U.S. Bird Banding Laboratory (permit #21221) and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (permit #LNHP-15-040). All protocols were approved by the University of Southern Mississippi institutional animal care and use committee (protocol #11092210). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017 Wilson Ornithological Society. All rights reserved. Copyright: Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",
year = "2017",
month = dec,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1676/16-182.1",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "129",
pages = "898--902",
journal = "Wilson Journal of Ornithology",
issn = "1559-4491",
publisher = "Wilson Ornithological Society",
number = "4",
}