Robust autumn social attributes predict spring courtship skills in juvenile female brown-headed cowbirds, Molothrus ater

► We observed a flock of juvenile brown-headed cowbirds during autumn and spring of their first year. ► In autumn, we performed a fission-fusion flock perturbation to examine social behaviour across contexts. ► Females showed correlated rates of affiliative head-down displays across social contexts in autumn. ► Autumn head-down rates predicted spring courtship skills in females. ► Individual social attributes may shape the development of courtship skills in female birds.