How do animals know when to start their breeding season so that they raise their young when resources are abundant? The outdoor photoperiod plays a role, but what about the availability of limited environmental resources? Using female European starlings, I found that exploration of a nest cavity was associated with changes to neural systems involved in the control of sexually-motivated behaviors, such as female responses to male courtship. Here’s a link to the full study, which has been published in the Journal of Experimental Biology!