The Infona portal uses cookies, i.e. strings of text saved by a browser on the user's device. The portal can access those files and use them to remember the user's data, such as their chosen settings (screen view, interface language, etc.), or their login data. By using the Infona portal the user accepts automatic saving and using this information for portal operation purposes. More information on the subject can be found in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By closing this window the user confirms that they have read the information on cookie usage, and they accept the privacy policy and the way cookies are used by the portal. You can change the cookie settings in your browser.
Arctic seas have warmed and sea ice has retreated. This has resulted in range contraction and population declines in some species, but it could potentially be a boon for others. Great Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo have a partially wettable plumage and seem poorly suited to foraging in Arctic waters. We show that rates of population change of Cormorant colonies around Disko Bay, Greenland, are positively...
The population decline of the Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni has been the subject of studies across its Western Palaearctic breeding range, but little is known about its use of pre‐migratory areas or African wintering quarters. We used geolocators to describe the temporal and spatial patterns of Portuguese Lesser Kestrel migration and wintering behaviour. Data on the complete migration were obtained...
The outcome of sibling competition for food is often determined by variation in body size within the brood and involves trade‐offs; traits that enhance competitive ability within the nest may be developed at the expense of traits that enable effective flight at fledging, or vice versa. We quantified growth of skeletal, body mass and feather traits in male and female Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus nestlings...
A common feature of many birds breeding in seasonal environments is that fitness‐related parameters such as nestling mass or survival decline as the breeding season progresses. Consequently, there is a tendency for early breeders to have better reproductive performance than individuals breeding later in the season. This variation could be caused by factors associated with the date of laying, such...
The winter‐flowering succulent Aloe marlothii provides nectar for many opportunistic avian nectarivores in southern African savannas. We assessed the importance of A. marlothii nectar sugar for opportunistic nectarivores by analysing temporal changes in stable carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) in the tissues of birds in Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve, South Africa. The blood of the 11 most common non‐granivorous...
Life‐histories and demographic parameters of southern temperate bird species have been little studied. We estimated return rates between years and sexes, and adult apparent survival and recapture probabilities with mark–recapture data on White‐rumped Swallows and found a lower return rate of unsuccessful females. There was little support for influences of sex or year on survival rates. The estimates...
Environmental Stewardship (ES) is the main mechanism for reversing the decline in farmland birds in England, and includes a range of options designed to provide winter foraging for seed‐eating species. We estimated granivorous songbird densities on ES options designed to provide winter food, on farms within the Entry Level (ELS) or Higher Level (HLS) strata of ES. ES Wild Bird Mixtures (WBMs) hosted...
We present molecular evidence that Neumann’s Warbler Hemitesia neumanni is deeply nested within the Cettiidae. The species’ distribution in the Albertine Rift of East Africa is intriguing, as the family Cettiidae is principally an Asian radiation. This disjunct distribution could be a result of colonization of Africa by long‐distance dispersal, or the Cettiidae may at some point in the past have had...
Manipulation of clutch size during incubation has been used in a number of studies to investigate life‐history costs of incubation. We increased or decreased clutches of Common Terns Sterna hirundo during incubation and measured subsequent chick growth and productivity. Our results provide little support for the hypothesis that costs of incubation in Common Terns are substantially affected by the...
Sex differences in adult mortality may be responsible for male‐skewed adult sex ratios and male‐skewed parental care in some birds. Because a surplus of breeding males has been reported in serially polyandrous populations of Snowy Plover Charadrius alexandrinus, we examined sex ratio, early‐season nesting opportunities, adult survival and annual reproductive success of a Snowy Plover population at...
A total of 134 bird species were recorded at Jianfengling, Hainan Island, in China from May 2000 to September 2004, of which 44 participated in one or more of 134 mixed‐species flocks. These flocks averaged 3.8 ± 0.2 species and 20.3 ± 1.2 individuals. Flocking propensity in a given species ranged from 1.5 to 100%. For flocking species, frequency of flocking and number of individuals in flocks was...
The ability to monitor interactions between individuals over time can provide us with information on life histories, mating systems, behavioural interactions between individuals and ecological interactions with the environment. Tracking individuals over time has traditionally been a time‐ and often a cost‐intensive exercise, and certain types of animals are particularly hard to monitor. Here we use...
In behavioural studies it has been common to quantify plumage colours or ornaments over a range of dates and link them to fitness characteristics without accounting for seasonal changes in these traits. Such changes are likely to be widespread among birds, yet we lack assessments of this variability within individuals. We studied both within‐ and between‐individual temporal changes in Great Tit Parus major...
The Dartford Warbler Sylvia undata has recently expanded its range northwards and upwards in the UK, consistent with the hypothesis that this cold‐sensitive species has responded to a warming climate. We interrogated distribution data, collected during four national surveys of this species between 1974 and 2006, to assess whether this large‐scale range expansion has been accompanied by finer‐scale...
The status signalling hypothesis states that conspicuous male plumage varies among males and serves as an honest signal of male quality and competitive ability. We expected immature‐plumaged males of the Saffron Finch Sicalis flaveola to feed their incubating mates and nestlings and remove faecal sacs at lower rates than those of mature‐plumaged males. We also predicted that females paired with immature‐plumaged...
Sensory ecology investigates the information that underlies an animal’s interactions with its environment. A sensory ecology framework is used here to seek to assess why flying birds collide with prominent structures, such as power lines, fences, communication masts, wind turbines and buildings, which intrude into the open airspace. Such collisions occur under conditions of both high and low visibility...
Set the date range to filter the displayed results. You can set a starting date, ending date or both. You can enter the dates manually or choose them from the calendar.