DOI: 10.5061/dryad.8gtht76zq
title: The influence of temperature, humidity and wind on the drinking behaviour of the Australian zebra finch

description: The Australian zebra finch is an arid-adapted passerine with high hygric
 demands, that is projected to be at risk from increasing temperature and
 aridity throughout its distribution by the end of the century. We examine
 here how individual zebra finches modify their drinking behaviour in
 response to the climatic conditions of ambient temperature, relative
 humidity, rainfall, wind speed, and day length over a two-month period
 during an Austral summer drought in arid central Australia. Visits to
 water by individual zebra finches increased with increasing ambient
 temperature and day length and decreased with increasing relative
 humidity, wind speed, and rainfall. These findings are the most
 comprehensive data for the drinking behaviour of individual wild birds
 globally and highlight the importance of regular drinking by individual
 finches to maintain water balance and thermoregulation. Our data highlight
 the importance of water availability for birds in the arid zone in a
 warming climate.
description: Over 500 wild zebra finches were implanted with PIT-tags
 (Minichip; Micro Products Australia) in the Gap Hills area of Fowlers Gap
 Arid Zone Research Station, far-west New South Wales (31°05′13.1″S
 141°42′17.4″E) during the 50 months prior to December 2017 (Brandl et al.
 2019; Funghi et al. 2019). From late November 2017 until after the
 conclusion of this study the only free water available within 4km of the
 centre of the study site was in two watering troughs located ~1km apart.
 The troughs were protected from large animals by a mesh fence and access
 to the water for small birds was restricted to an 11 cm diameter opening
 surrounded by the antenna of a custom-made battery-powered PITtag reader
 (RFIDRW-E-232; Priority 1 Design, Melbourne, Australia), that recorded the
 individual’s unique identification code, date and time. This study focuses
 on a total of 219 individually tagged adult zebra finches that were
 detected using the PITtag readers as they visited the water troughs
 between 16<sup>th</sup> December 2017 and
 18<sup>th</sup> February 2018.  We obtained daily climatic
 data from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology for the Fowlers Gap
 automated weather station (AWS 046128 located 16 km from the study site)
 and considered mean daily wind speed, mean daily relative humidity, daily
 rainfall total (only a trace amount) and the daily maximum ambient
 temperature for the study period. We collected data for
 at least one trough on 61 of the 65 days over which the study was
 conducted (not every trough recorded birds every day due to logistical
 reasons such as reader function, battery life, and memory card capacity).
 We used the interval between the birds’ recorded first and last visits to
 estimate the period of each day monitored, because visiting birds were not
 necessarily recorded for the entire day of these 61 days (e.g. if the
 readers’ batteries became flat). Recording hours (a similar concept to
 trap nights or trap hours to quantify effort for trapping studies;
 Thompson and Thompson 2007; Saska et al. 2021) at both water points varied
 from 6 h 15 min to a maximum of 26 h 55 min, with a mean daily duration of
 19 h 55 min ± 5 h 38 min (i.e. the total summed duration of the drinking
 times across both troughs, e.g. 26 hours and 55 minutes is the sum of over
 13 hours of monitoring each day at each of the two troughs).
 A reading was considered an independent event when it occurred at
 least 15 minutes after a previous record for the same unique ID, avoiding
 double-counting birds as they entered and exited the trough and reducing
 the likelihood of multiple counts of individuals that repeatedly came and
 left the trough in a short period without drinking (Griffith, Cooper,
 pers. obs.). When a bird was recorded during a 15-minute interval, it was
 assigned a value of 1 for that period, even if multiple records were
 detected, and was assigned a value of 0 for the period if it was not
 detected within the 15-minute window.  
description: # The influence of temperature, humidity and wind on the drinking
 behaviour of the Australian zebra finch
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8gtht76zq](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8gtht76zq) ## Description of the data and file structure The data was collected at two water troughs being monitored using a PIT tag reader to record the time and date on which tagged birds entered for a drink.  ### Files and variables #### File: weather\_data.csv **Description:** Each row is an hour of data on the respective date with the data coming from the BOM Automated Weather Station at Fowlers Gap  ##### Variables * Precipitation since 9am * Air temperature in degrees celsius * Relative humidity * wind speed * date * hour  #### File: All\_Birds\_all\_days.csv **Description:** each row gives the data on a visit to water by one individual ##### Variables * Date is date of the observation * ID is the identity number of the bird * The trough that was visited (B or G) * R-TIME is the five minute period in which the trough was visited * SLOT_RECORD_TIME is the time period during which at least one visit was recorded (in 15 minute increments) #### File: Summary\_data.csv **Description:** summary of the duration of data collected at each trough on each day with day length and weather summary * DATE The date (dd/mm/yy) of the recording * DAY_LENGTH Duration of the day in HH,MM,SS * TB_FIRST RECORD Hour of the day HH,MM,SS when the first subject was recorded at Green Trough * TB_LAST RECORD Hour of the day HH,MM,SS when the last subject was recorded at Green Trough * TB_DIF Time difference between the first and last record of the day (in hours, minutes and seconds) with NA for when there were no records at Green Trough * TG_FIRST RECORD Hour of the day HH,MM,SS when the first subject was recorded at Blue Trough * TG_LAST RECORD Hour of the day HH,MM,SS when the last subject was recorded at Blue Trough * TG_DIF Time difference between the first and last record of the day (in hours, minutes and seconds) with NA for when there were no records at Blue Trough * TO USE Data to use in the analysis (i.e. where the trough recorders recorded at least one visit in the day) * DAILY MAX Maximum temperature of the day in Celsius (values not reported for days not included in analysis) * SUNRISE Time of sunrise (values not reported for days not included in analysis) * SUNSET Time of sunset (values not reported for days not included in analysis) * MAX_TEMP_P_DAY Maximum temperature of the previous day in Celsius (values not reported for days not included in analysis) * MAX_TEMP_2P_DAY Maximum temperature of two days before in Celsius (values not reported for days not included in analysis) * RAIN rain in mm (values not reported for days not included in analysis) #### File: ID Detections\_date.csv **Description:** table providing the days on which each individual was detected at one or both of the troughs * ID The identity number of the bird * Dates (each date of the observation period) with a '1' indicating a bird was detected and an empty cell indicating no detection * Sum The total number of days on which an individual was detected