摘要:

SummaryBreeding territoriality in birds is characterised not only by aggression, but also by a range of other behaviours making territory owners conspicuous. Birds perform displays and vocalisations, use exposed perches, and tend to confine their movements to well-defined centres of activity. Such behaviour may be advertisement to potential intruders, and may therefore tend to occur when territory owners are most aggressive. Alternatively, it may be associated with specific stages of breeding such as courtship or brood-rearing. Distinguishing between these possibilities is difficult in breeding birds because changes in aggressiveness tend to be closely linked to breeding cycles. Male New Holland and White-cheeked Honeyeaters show pronounced seasonal changes in aggressiveness that are clearly not linked to breeding cycles. I monitored time budgets, displays and vocalisations of breeding males to determine whether the conspicuousness of their behaviour varied with changes in aggressiveness or with breeding cycles. No seasonal changes in behaviour suggested that males advertised their presence when they were aggressive. Changes in display and vocalisation rates with breeding cycles suggested that some aspects of these behaviours were advertisements to females. Both species performed song flight displays most frequently before egg laying, and White-cheeked Honeyeaters called most frequently when they were unpaired. The amount of time males spent on their territories also changed with breeding cycles and peaked when males were caring for young. I suggest that this pattern reflects demands of parenting rather than changes in advertisement behaviour. The extent to which males used exposed perches did not vary either seasonally or with breeding cycles.

ISSN:0158-4197    

DOI:10.1071/MU9960001

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

SummaryVisual evidence of avian vocal mimicry by three male Tooth-billed BowerbirdsScenopoeetes dentirostrisof vocalisations typical of four passerine birds sympatric with them is presented as sonagrams. These represent the first unequivocal graphic evidence of such mimicry by this, or any other, bowerbird together with that of the model species. Other species of bowerbirds recorded performing avian vocal mimicry and its possible significance are reviewed and discussed.

ISSN:0158-4197    

DOI:10.1071/MU9960012

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

SummaryNestling food, feeding frequency and brooding behaviour of the Brown-backed HoneyeaterRamsayornis modestusand Yellow-bellied SunbirdNectarina jugulariswere studied in northern Queensland from August to November 1984. Male and female honeyeaters made equal numbers of frequent brief feeding visits with food items in the bill; most of which were too small to be identified. Larger items and nestling faecal remains revealed a wide variety of arthropods from six insect orders and spiders. Spiders and mantids comprised 60% of their food. The feeding frequency by both adults averaged 20.3 per h. This rate did not change through the day, with the one or two nestlings, or with nestling age. The female sunbird did almost all the feeding. She made comparatively long visits to the nest and fed nestlings more than once with pumping motions of the head. Food was entirely spiders (60%) and termites (40%) and possibly nectar. The average feeding rate was 4.2 per h and did not vary with the number of nestlings. Neither species brooded in the daytime. The number of faecal sacs removed was comparable to the number reported for temperate zone passerines.

ISSN:0158-4197    

DOI:10.1071/MU9960017

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

SummaryResource partitioning within an assemblage of seven species of insectivorous birds inhabiting remnantMelaleucawoodland on Rottnest Island off the coast of Western Australia was studied during May—July 1993. Foraging behaviour, foraging height, foraging substrate and foraging plant associations of all species (and of both sexes in two species) were recorded for each month. These data were used to calculate overlaps in each foraging dimension and for all foraging dimensions combined. The significance of total foraging overlap between species and sexes (defined as overlap>0.6) was low in May (only 14% of all total foraging overlaps) but increased slightly in June and July (25 and 29% of all total foraging overlaps respectively). Foraging habits were associated significantly both with bird species and month of observation, indicating that foraging partitioning occurred and that its pattern varied temporally. The diversity of foraging habits displayed by each bird species in each foraging dimension (determined by the Shannon-Wiener function) varied widely, although a species which was a generalist in one foraging dimension also tended to be a generalist in other foraging dimensions.

ISSN:0158-4197    

DOI:10.1071/MU9960023

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

SummaryCaptive-reared juvenile MalleefowlLeipoa ocellata(3–5 months old) experimentally released into Yathong Nature Reserve did not survive. From the first day after release Malleefowl were found dead, and mortality continued at a rapid rate until none remained alive: 50–58% were dead within 7 days; 83–96% were dead within 36 days; and none survived longer than 104 days. Predation by the introduced Red FoxVulpes vulpeswas the principal cause of mortality, accounting for at least 50% and perhaps as many as 92% of young Malleefowl. Twelve older captive-reared sub-adults (14–28 months of age) experimentally released into Yathong Nature Reserve fared somewhat better; three survived longer than 428 days. Again, predation by foxes was the chief cause of mortality. Mortality was particularly high during the first week following liberation, but the two age classes differed in their long-term survival. One third of sub-adults survived to breeding age (2.5 years), while no juvenile survived its first year. This implies a decrease in the vulnerability of Malleefowl to foxes between the first and subsequent years of life. Predation by foxes remained the major cause of mortality among sub-adults. Fox predation may well threaten the continued survival of Malleefowl in New South Wales because they killed sub-adult Malleefowl of a weight comparable to that of many adults, which suggests that the duration of vulnerability to foxes is protracted. Furthermore, this threat is not confined to the fragmented remnants of mallee vegetation within the wheat-belt but extends to Malleefowl populations in the remaining large expanses of mallee, remote from agriculture.

ISSN:0158-4197    

DOI:10.1071/MU9960032

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

SummaryFew studies have examined habitat selection by the White-eared Honeyeater. Most references provide broad descriptions of habitat and the results of a general bird survey. Key features of habitat for the nominate raceLichenostomus leucotis leucotisappear to be the presence of a eucalypt canopy, which often contains trees with decorticating bark on the trunk or branches, and a dense shrub layer. The presence of a dense shrub layer may not be a requirement of the mallee raceL. l. novaenorciae.

ISSN:0158-4197    

DOI:10.1071/MU9960042

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

SummaryHabitat selection by the White-eared HoneyeaterLichenostomous leucotis leucotiswas studied at Yellingbo State Nature Reserve in Victoria. Logistic regression was used to identify structural attributes of the vegetation significantly associated with the presence of White-eared Honeyeaters. Occupied habitat was characterised by trees with large amounts of decorticating bark, a high density ofEucalyptus ignorabilisand a low level of eucalypt dieback. The predictive ability of the model was poor, suggesting that many other variables not identified in this study are also important. Further study is required to fully understand the habitat requirements of this species.

ISSN:0158-4197    

DOI:10.1071/MU9960050

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

SummaryAustralian honeyeaters (Meliphagidae) and other species were observed foraging for nectar ofAstroloma conostephioidesin flocks of up to 100 individuals during the 1992 flowering season. Birds were classified as belonging to flocks of five or more birds (‘flock’birds) or to small flocks of one to four birds (‘single’birds). Observations of distances flown while feeding and angles between forward flight of successive flights of 299 flock birds and 173 single birds were made. Most flights (90%) were between 0 and 9 m and distributions of flight distances had a modal distance class of 0.51-1.0 m (maximum distance = 20 m). Distributions of flock and single bird flight distances were not significantly different for honeyeaters weighing<45 g, but were significantly different for Striated Thornbills and all observed birds. Distributions of angles of turn of all single and all flock birds were significantly different from each other and were not evenly distributed in all directions. Flights to distant neighbouring plants were much less frequent (4–11% of all flights) than other studies have reported.

ISSN:0158-4197    

DOI:10.1071/MU9960055

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

ISSN:0158-4197    

DOI:10.1071/MU9960062

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

ISSN:0158-4197    

DOI:10.1071/MU9960065

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor