Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T00:50:11.219Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Evidence of altitudinal moult-migration in a Central American hummingbird, Amazilia cyanura

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2010

K. C. Fraser ,
A. W. Diamond  and
L. Chavarría
K. C. Fraser*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, P.O. Box 4400, E3B 5A3, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
A. W. Diamond
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, P.O. Box 4400, E3B 5A3, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
L. Chavarría
Affiliation:
Finca y Reserva Silvestre Privada Nebliselva El Jaguar, P.O. Box Apartado E-22, Managua, Nicaragua
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

For birds, moulting is an energetically costly endeavour (Murphy & King 1991), the timing and location of which may be flexible and governed by local ecological factors (Pyle et al. 2009, Rohwer et al. 2005). Some species or individuals may pause during long-distance migration, or migrate specifically to moult (Greenberg et al. 1974, Pyle et al. 2009, Rohwer et al. 2005, 2008). This strategy may be most common when food abundance reaches a nadir at the end of the breeding period, promoting movement to areas where food is more plentiful and the energetic and nutritive demands of moult may be met more suitably (Rohwer et al. 2005). This pattern is exemplified by insectivorous songbirds breeding in temperate, western North America that pause on southward migration to moult amidst the food flush that occurs following heavy rains in the Mexican monsoon region (Pyle et al. 2009, Rohwer et al. 2005, 2009), or more rarely, migrate upslope after breeding to moult in more moist, productive areas at higher elevation (Butler et al. 2002, Greenberg et al. 1974, Rohwer et al. 2008, Steele & McCormick 1995). Such altitudinal migration may be much more common in the Neotropics where many species engage in seasonal shifts in elevation. Hypotheses proposed to explain this behaviour, however, have focused on links made between migration and a principally frugivorous or nectarivorous diet (Levey & Stiles 1992, Stiles 1985, 1988) and not on moult requirements or phenology. Fruit and nectar availability may vary seasonally over an elevational gradient, and birds may migrate in order to track peak abundances (Levey & Stiles 1992, Loiselle & Blake 1991). Hummingbirds may also track arthropod (particularly spider) abundance, but this possibility remains little explored (Cotton 2007, Stiles 1980).

Keywords

altitudinal migrationdietintratropical migrationNeotropical birdsNicaraguaresource trackingseasonality
Type
Short Communication
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 26 , Issue 6 , November 2010 , pp. 645 - 648
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

BUTLER, L. K., DONAHUE, M. G. & ROHWER, S. 2002. Molt-migration in Western Tanagers (Piranga udoviciana): age effects, aerodynamics, and conservation implications. The Auk 119:1010–1023.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COTTON, P. A. 2007. Seasonal resource tracking by Amazonian hummingbirds. Ibis 149:135–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DE SANTE, D. F., SARACCO, J. F., DE VIVAR ALVAREZ, C. R. & MORALES, S. 2009. Instructions for establishing and operating bird-banding stations as part of the MoSI program. Institute for Bird Populations, Pt. Reyes Station. 44 pp.Google Scholar
DIAMOND, A. W. 1974. Annual cycles in Jamaican forest birds. Journal of Zoology 173:277–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GREENBERG, R., KEELER-WOLF, T. & KEELER-WOLF, V. 1974. Wood warbler populations in the Yolla Bolly Mountains of California. Western Birds 5:81–90.Google Scholar
HOLDRIDGE, L. R. 1967. Life zone ecology. Tropical Science Center. San José, Costa Rica. 206 pp.Google Scholar
HOWELL, S. & WEBB, S. 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and Northern Central America. Oxford University Press. Oxford. 851 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LEVEY, D. J. & STILES, F. G. 1992. Evolutionary precursors of long-distance migration: resource availability and movement patterns in Neotropical landbirds. American Naturalist 140:447–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LOISELLE, B. A. & BLAKE, J. G. 1991. Temporal variation in birds and fruits along an elevational gradient in Costa Rica. Ecology 72:180–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MURPHY, M. E. & KING, J. R. 1991. Nutritional aspects of avian moult. Acta XX Congressus Internationalis Ornithologici 20:2186–2193.Google Scholar
POULIN, B., LEFEBVRE, G. & McNEIL, R. 1992. Tropical avian phenology in relation to abundance and exploitation of food resources. Ecology 73:2295–2309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
POWELL, G. V. N. & BJORK, R. 1995. Implications of intratropical migration on reserve design: a case study using Pharomachrus mocinno. Conservation Biology 9:354–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PYLE, P., LEITNER, W. A., LOZANO-ANGULO, L., AVILEZ-TERAN, F., SWANSON, H., LIMÓN, E. G. & CHAMBERS, M. K. 2009. Temporal, spatial, and annual variation in the occurrence of molt-migrant passerines in the Mexican monsoon region. The Condor 111:583–590.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROHWER, S., BUTLER, L. K. & FROEHLICH, D. R. 2005. Ecology and demography of East-West differences in molt scheduling of Neotropical migrant passerines. Pp. 87–105 in Greenberg, R. & Marra, P. P. (ed.). Birds of two worlds: the ecology and evolution of migration. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.Google Scholar
ROHWER, S., HOBSON, K. A. & ROHWER, V. G. 2009. Migratory double breeding in Neotropical migrant birds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106:19050–19055.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
ROHWER, V. G., ROHWER, S. & BARRY, J. H. 2008. Molt scheduling of western Neotropical migrants and up-slope movement of Cassin's Vireo. The Condor 110:365–370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
STEELE, J. & McCORMICK, J. 1995. Partitioning of the summer grounds by Orange-crowned Warblers into a breeding grounds, adult molting grounds and juvenile staging areas. North American Bird Bander 23:52.Google Scholar
STILES, F. G. 1980. The annual cycle in a tropical wet forest hummingbird community. Ibis 122:322–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
STILES, F. G. 1985. Conservation of forest birds in Costa Rica: problems and perspectives. Pp. 141–168 in Diamond, A. W. & Lovejoy, T. E. (eds.). Conservation of tropical forest birds. International Council for Bird Preservation, Kings College, Cambridge.Google Scholar
STILES, F. G. 1988. Altitudinal movements of birds on the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica: implications of conservation. Pp. 243–258 in Almeda, F. & Pringle, C. M. (eds.). Tropical rainforests: diversity and conservation. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco.Google Scholar
STILES, F. G. & SKUTCH, A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca. 511 pp.Google Scholar
WINKER, K., ESCALANTE, P., RAPPOLE, J. H., RAMOS, R. A., OEHLENSCHLAGER, R. J. & WARNER, W. D. 1997. Periodic migration and lowland forest refugia in a “sedentary” Neotropical bird, Wetmore's Bush-Tanager. Conservation Biology 11:692–697.CrossRefGoogle Scholar