Pairing success relative to male plumage redness and pigment symmetry in the house finch: temporal and geographic constancy

Male house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) have carotenoid-basedornamentalplumage coloration. In previous research it was shown that forasingle population of house finches in a single year, malesthat paired were onaverage redder in plumage coloration thanmales that did not pair, and maleswith redder plumage tendedto nest earlier than males with less red plumage.Here we showthat these patterns continued over 6 years and at two widelyseparatedlocations. We also tested whether the symmetry of carotenoid-basedcrownpigmentation differed between paired and unpaired males andfound thatpaired males have, on average, more perfect symmetryof crown pigmentationthan males not paired. These observationssupport the idea that expression ofcarotenoid-based plumagecoloration by males is a persistent and widespreadcriterionin female mate choice in the house finch.