Bird StudyPub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/00063657.2022.2151561
Akpanta J. Ishong, T. Omotoriogun
{"title":"Intra- and inter-annual variation in body mass of two species of weavers in an Afrotropical environment","authors":"Akpanta J. Ishong, T. Omotoriogun","doi":"10.1080/00063657.2022.2151561","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2022.2151561","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 Capsule We describe the effects of sex, daily rainfall and temperature, seasonality, and breeding stage on body mass variation in two species of weaver in a tropical African environment. Aims To investigate the effects of sex, weather conditions, seasonality, and breeding stage on body mass of the Village Weaver Ploceus cucullatus and Northern Red Bishop Euplectes franciscanus in Amurum Forest Reserve, Central Nigeria. Methods Biometric data were extracted from a Constant Effort Sites database of over 15 years and daily rainfall and temperature data were obtained from Jos Metrological Center. We used a general linear mixed model to determine the effects of sex, rainfall, temperature, and season on body mass variation of the two species within and across years, and differences in body mass of females of the two species within and across years with daily rainfall and temperature, and season during the different incubation stages. Results The body mass of males was higher than that of females in both species. Daily rainfall and mean temperature were negatively related to body mass in Village Weavers, while in Northern Red Bishops rainfall was positively related to body mass. In both species, female body mass varied according to brood patch status: female Village Weavers were heavier during the egg-laying stage compared to the non-breeding season; female Northern Red Bishops weighed more at incubation or brooding stages and less during the chick rearing stage when compared to the non-breeding season. The body mass of females did not correlate with daily rainfall and temperature, or season. Conclusions Our results showed the effect of sex on body mass in both species of weaver. The variation in body mass of these species during breeding, and with local weather conditions, suggests how the species manage body mass within a tropical African environment.","PeriodicalId":55353,"journal":{"name":"Bird Study","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49211803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bird StudyPub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/00063657.2022.2153796
Ortaç Onmuş, Turgut Ege, Emin Yoğurtçuoğlu, Soner Bekir, Süleyman Ekşioğlu
{"title":"A new foraging, post-breeding, and wintering site for the Mediterranean subspecies of the European Storm Petrel Hydrobates pelagicus melitensis in the Aegean Sea off Turkey","authors":"Ortaç Onmuş, Turgut Ege, Emin Yoğurtçuoğlu, Soner Bekir, Süleyman Ekşioğlu","doi":"10.1080/00063657.2022.2153796","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2022.2153796","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Mediterranean subspecies of the European Storm Petrel Hydrobates pelagicus melitensis is suspected to be resident in the Aegean Sea off Turkey, but breeding is yet to be confirmed. Additionally, the area is used during the non-breeding season by individuals from elsewhere in the Mediterranean, and population sizes of over a thousand individuals have been recorded, especially in the central-south Aegean Sea.","PeriodicalId":55353,"journal":{"name":"Bird Study","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42966604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bird StudyPub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/00063657.2022.2157373
J. Pearce‐Higgins, R. Morris
{"title":"Declines in invertebrates and birds – could they be linked by climate change?","authors":"J. Pearce‐Higgins, R. Morris","doi":"10.1080/00063657.2022.2157373","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2022.2157373","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 Capsule Through case studies that link changes in invertebrate populations to changes in bird populations, we suggest how climate change may increasingly impact bird populations through variation in their invertebrate prey. Aims To assess whether invertebrate and bird population declines could be linked and suggest potentially emerging climate change impacts on wildlife. Methods We draw on field experience and case studies to illustrate how potential climate change impacts on invertebrates may cascade to affect bird populations and identify some key research gaps for urgent consideration. Results We highlight four invertebrate groups which may be sensitive to the impacts of climate change and that have the potential to impact bird populations that feed on them: soil invertebrates, foliar invertebrates, aerial insects, and aquatic invertebrates. Conclusion Our ability to understand these impacts is hampered by a lack of extensive long-term monitoring data for many invertebrates, and invertebrate data collected at scales that can be related to bird populations. We call for collaboration between entomologists and ornithologists, both non-vocational and professional, to support new empirical research and long-term monitoring initiatives to better link changes in insect populations and birds to inform future decision-making. This will be particularly important to understand likely future increasing climate change pressures on birds.","PeriodicalId":55353,"journal":{"name":"Bird Study","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41421826","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bird StudyPub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/00063657.2022.2162478
J. A. García, M. Hernández, L. Nunes, L. F. Sánchez-Sastre, P. Casanueva, F. Campos
{"title":"Predation by the Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis of non-native fish species during the winter","authors":"J. A. García, M. Hernández, L. Nunes, L. F. Sánchez-Sastre, P. Casanueva, F. Campos","doi":"10.1080/00063657.2022.2162478","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2022.2162478","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Capsule The winter diet of Common Kingfishers Alcedo atthis using two rivers in central Spain was 94.9% fish, all of which were non-native species. Aims To determine the composition Common Kingfisher diet in an area recently colonized by non-native fish species, and to compare estimated prey size during the winter to that of fish fed to nestlings during the breeding season. Methods The diet was studied by analysis of pellets collected from the River Duero (lentic, still water) and River Pisuerga (lotic, riverine) in central Spain. Fish size (total length and biomass) calculated from paired remains contained in each pellet. Results Prey items were almost exclusively fish (94.9% of all prey), with a small proportion of non-native Red Swamp Crayfish Procambarus clarkii (4.9%) and aquatic insects (0.2%). The diet consisted of only five species of fish, all of which were non-native. The Common Bleak Alburnus alburnus and Eastern Mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki were the prey captured most often in the River Pisuerga and River Duero, respectively. Estimated length of fish prey ranged from 1.5 to 10.5 cm, but 53.6% of individuals were between 3 and 5 cm. Mean biomass of the fish consumed was also small (1.08 g per fish). Mean values of both fish total length and biomass were lower than the measurements reported elsewhere in Europe during the breeding season. Conclusion Native fish species have disappeared from the diet of Common Kingfishers in our study area, probably because the non-native species are more common.","PeriodicalId":55353,"journal":{"name":"Bird Study","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44392762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bird StudyPub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/00063657.2022.2156979
J. Reif, Z. Vermouzek, P. Voříšek, D. Romportl, Javier Rivas-Salvador, F. Morelli
{"title":"Habitat-specific diversity in Central European birds","authors":"J. Reif, Z. Vermouzek, P. Voříšek, D. Romportl, Javier Rivas-Salvador, F. Morelli","doi":"10.1080/00063657.2022.2156979","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2022.2156979","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Capsule Bird species richness was highest in forest and urban habitat types, lower in grassland and wetland, and lowest in cropland. Aims To investigate bird species richness patterns across different habitat types in Czechia, Central Europe. Methods Data from a national breeding bird monitoring scheme in Czechia, based on mapping of positions of individual birds along transects, were used to express the number of species in habitat polygons. Each polygon was represented by one of the eight habitat types (coniferous, mixed and deciduous forest, cropland, grassland and other open habitat types, urban habitat, and wetland) obtained by detailed country-wide vegetation mapping. Species richness of individual polygons was related to polygon habitat type and area by linear mixed effects models, taking the surrounding land cover composition into account. Results Bird species richness was highest in forest, as predicted, and respective forest habitat types did not differ from each other. Urban habitat hosted a similar number of species as forest. Species richness varied greatly between different open habitat types: cropland was the most species-poor of all the habitat types considered, whereas grassland and other types of open habitats hosted significantly more species, albeit fewer than forests, and did not differ from wetland. Slopes of species-area relationships in respective habitat types largely followed the patterns in species richness. Conclusions The observed patterns are partly driven by natural habitat characteristics, such as high vertical stratification of forest vegetation facilitating coexistence of a higher number of species. However, biogeography may also play a role, for example, and the relatively short time periods for colonization from Eastern European source areas may underpin lower bird species richness in grasslands. In addition, human interventions may drive the steep slope of the species-area relationship in forest, presumably caused by mosaic harvesting, as well as the shallow slope of this relationship in cropland and wetland, as a result of their intensive exploitation.","PeriodicalId":55353,"journal":{"name":"Bird Study","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42781436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bird StudyPub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/00063657.2022.2157374
F. Casas, A. Tinaut
{"title":"The predation of hatching Red-legged Partridges Alectoris rufa by the harvester ant Messor barbarus","authors":"F. Casas, A. Tinaut","doi":"10.1080/00063657.2022.2157374","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2022.2157374","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 We report, for the first time, two cases of predation on Red-legged Partridge Alectoris rufa chicks in the process of hatching by the harvester ant Messor barbarus.","PeriodicalId":55353,"journal":{"name":"Bird Study","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48928033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bird StudyPub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/00063657.2022.2160696
D. Villanúa, J. Arizaga, A. Artázcoz, D. Alonso, A. Lizarraga, J. M. Barbarin, Guillermo Blanco
{"title":"Nesting associations and breeding output of Barn Owls Tyto alba and Red-billed Choughs Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax sharing nest boxes","authors":"D. Villanúa, J. Arizaga, A. Artázcoz, D. Alonso, A. Lizarraga, J. M. Barbarin, Guillermo Blanco","doi":"10.1080/00063657.2022.2160696","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2022.2160696","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 Capsule Barn Owls Tyto alba and Red-billed Choughs Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax show differential breeding outputs as a consequence of sharing nest boxes. Aims To describe for the first time a commensal relationship between the Red-billed Chough and the Barn Owl during the breeding period. Methods During systematic monitoring of 90 nest boxes installed for Barn Owls in Navarre, northern Spain, it was found that in some boxes, Barn Owls and Red-billed Choughs nested simultaneously (inside and on top of the box, respectively). The clutch size, breeding success, and the number of fledglings of each species were compared when nesting together versus separately during the breeding period of 2015 and 2017. Results About one-third of the nest boxes observed during the study were simultaneously used by both Barn Owls and Red-billed Choughs. No relationship was found between the composition of the habitat around the boxes and the degree of occupancy for either species. Nest box sharing had no significant effect on the breeding output of Barn Owls, but improved the breeding performance of Red-billed Choughs by increasing the number of fledglings in relation to clutch size. Conclusion Barn Owls can provide benefits to Red-billed Choughs by controlling the populations of rodents, which could act as nest predators. Given that Barn Owls apparently do not obtain benefits nor incur any costs by the association with Red-billed Choughs, this interaction may be defined as commensalism. To our knowledge, this is the first documented nesting association between a corvid and an owl species.","PeriodicalId":55353,"journal":{"name":"Bird Study","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"58617214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bird StudyPub Date : 2022-04-12DOI: 10.1080/00063657.2022.2052796
Ken W. Smith
{"title":"The Wryneck: biology, behaviour, conservation and symbolism of Jynx torquilla","authors":"Ken W. Smith","doi":"10.1080/00063657.2022.2052796","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2022.2052796","url":null,"abstract":"Published in Bird Study (Vol. 68, No. 3, 2021)","PeriodicalId":55353,"journal":{"name":"Bird Study","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138514446","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bird StudyPub Date : 2022-04-03DOI: 10.1080/00063657.2022.2141683
R. Summers, Phil Golder, Nicole Wallace, Ewan Munro, Jeremy D. Wilson
{"title":"Association between the distribution of Capercaillies Tetrao urogallus and road and track densities at a landscape scale in a national park","authors":"R. Summers, Phil Golder, Nicole Wallace, Ewan Munro, Jeremy D. Wilson","doi":"10.1080/00063657.2022.2141683","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2022.2141683","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Capsule: The inherited pattern of roads and tracks, now primarily used by people for recreation in the Cairngorms National Park, was associated with a reduced presence of Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus signs in woodland. Aims: To examine if the distribution of Capercaillies in the Cairngorms National Park was associated with the density of roads and tracks that run through woods in the Park, having accounted for habitat variables that are known to affect the distribution of Capercaillies. Methods: In 2013, Capercaillie distribution, as assessed from signs of presence, and habitat variables in seven woods totalling 142 km2 within the Cairngorms National Park were assessed along regularly spaced transects. Numbers of people walking, on bicycles, and in vehicles were counted on selected tracks, and the density of roads and tracks (a measure of human use) in 0.25 km2 squares of woodland was obtained from maps. A logistic regression compared habitat variables and road and track densities in 0.25 km2 squares of woodland where signs of Capercaillie were or were not found. Results: Greater road and track densities were associated with reduced likelihood of finding Capercaillie signs in woodland squares, but the track effect was associated only with the two woods that had the highest levels of use by people. Conclusion: In response to the landscape-scale, correlative evidence of disturbance to Capercaillies, a reduction in track density (a current mean of 2.3 km per km2 of woodland) or modifying human usage of tracks are conservation management options. This presents a challenge for forest managers, public bodies, the tourism industry, and others who wish to promote visitor access to the countryside and also to protect rare and vulnerable wildlife.","PeriodicalId":55353,"journal":{"name":"Bird Study","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46859587","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bird StudyPub Date : 2022-04-03DOI: 10.1080/00063657.2022.2138825
M. Burgess, Joan Castelló, Tony Davis, C. Hewson
{"title":"Loop-migration and non-breeding locations of British breeding Wood Warblers Phylloscopus sibilatrix","authors":"M. Burgess, Joan Castelló, Tony Davis, C. Hewson","doi":"10.1080/00063657.2022.2138825","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2022.2138825","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Capsule: British breeding Wood Warblers Phylloscopus sibilatrix show a clockwise loop migration incorporating stops in southern Europe, the Sahel, and the humid forest zone of West Africa. Aims: To determine autumn and spring migration routes, the location and duration of stopover sites on migration, and the location of non-breeding areas of British breeding Wood Warblers. Methods: In 2016 and 2018 we deployed geolocators to male Wood Warblers on Dartmoor, Devon, and in the New Forest, Hampshire. We retrieved four geolocators from returning birds in 2017, 2019, and 2020. Results: Male Wood Warblers departed breeding sites in late July and stopped for most of August in central southern Europe, crossed the Sahara by a non-stop night and day flight immediately followed by a short stop, and then migrated west to a longer stopover in the Sahel. Final non-breeding destinations were in an area of West Africa covering Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Two were tracked on spring migration, again crossing the Sahara via a non-stop flight before migrating through Western Europe to complete a clockwise loop migration back to Britain. Conclusion: All tracked Wood Warblers used stopovers for at least three weeks in three distinct regions, in central southern Europe, in the Sahel, and in the humid zone of West Africa. Although the limitations of geolocation prevent matching locations with habitat, these regions are broadly characterized by distinct forest or woodland habitat types, which differ from breeding habitat. All four tracks showed similar patterns in route, stopover behaviour, and timings, suggesting they may be representative of males in these breeding populations, and potentially of other British and western European Wood Warbler populations.","PeriodicalId":55353,"journal":{"name":"Bird Study","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46011631","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}