ИСТИНА

The behavioural types in animals could be identified by novelty tests carried out both in artificial environment (open field) and in nature. The pied flycatcher (PF), the favourite model species of European ornithologists, is poorly studied in terms of its behaviour in novel environment. Estimation of the exploration score in the open field was not successful in this species, perhaps, because of peculiarities of its hunting behaviour. In order to study coping behaviour of PF mates rearing nestlings we used the approach similar to that approved by Garamszegi et al. (2014) on free-living collared flycatcher bachelor males in spring. We estimated the latencies in feeding nestlings and other behavioural features of parents in two consecutive tests: 1) after placing the video camera near nest-box; 2) after attaching a white sheet of paper under the nest-hole. The reaction of birds did not depend on gender and was similar in both tests on within individual level. Within individual integrity of results revealed by two different tests suggests the opportunity to use these field manipulations as a tool for identifying behavioural phenotypes. Details of the experiments and perspective of using these tests are discussed. Financial support was provided by RFBR, grant 18-04-00536.