Daily activity is repeatable but varies across the breeding season in female great tits

Abstract Wild animals typically organize activity around a 24-h day and daily timing across the year is optimized for both survival and reproductive success. Among-individual variation in chronotype, where individuals differ in when they begin or end their active day relative to a cue such as photoperiod, often exists within a population. Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors contribute to this variation and activity patterns may change across and within different life-history stages as energetic investment changes. Here we describe population level changes in free-living female great tit (Parus major) activity patterns of onset and offset of activity as well as assess variation and repeatability in daily activity both within- and across-breeding stages. We fitted individual females with accelerometers to track activity prior to nest building through chick rearing. Prior to clutch initiation females began their active day before sunrise, however, in the days prior to laying their first egg, activity was delayed until after sunrise. Females ended activity prior to sunset across the monitoring period and earliest during egg laying and incubation. In addition, females exhibited greater among- and within-individual variance in activity during parental care. Female daily activity was moderately repeatable within breeding stages and strongly covaried across several breeding stages. These findings expand our understanding of individual variation in activity patterns during reproduction and the potential fitness implications of chronotype in wild animals.