Our lab is beginning compare populations in hormonal and behavioral traits to investigate the mechanisms facilitating the ongoing southward range expansion in tree swallows. With collaborators at Cornell University, we are investigating how neural mechanisms of stress response vary with breeding latitude. With collaborators at Appalachian State University, we are exploring how maternal (anti-predator aggression) and associated hormonal mechanisms may facilitate success in novel environments. And, we have recently begun to study sub-lethal effects of thermal stress with collaborators at the University of Tennessee. Stay tuned as we work to understand the integrated set of traits that allow tree swallows to move southward, contrary to global climate models and almost 80% of all other organisms that are moving to higher latitudes and higher altitudes in response to climate change.