Foraging behavior of tyrant flycatchers (Aves, Tyrannidae) in Brazil

Abstract

In this paper we present data on the foraging maneuvers and substrates used to capture preys by 28 species of tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae) in Brazil. For six species: Arundinicola leucocephala Linnaeus, 1764, Fluvicola nengeta Linnaeus, 1766, Machetornis rixosa Vieillot, 1819, Myiozetetes similis Spix, 1825, Pitangus sulphuratus Linnaeus, 1766, and Tyrannus melancholicus Vieillot, 1819 -, we go further to investigate perch height, search time, sally distance, and sally angle. With a few exceptions, sally strike was the most frequent foraging maneuver. Living foliage and air were the most frequent substrates used to capture preys. Among the six species studied in detail we found three distinct groups of perch heights: F. nengeta and M. rixosa foraged on the ground, A. leucocephala with P. sulphuratus were medium-height foragers, and T. melancholicus and M. similis form the third group for which prey attacks usually start from perches from the ground up to 3 m. With the exception of P. sulphuratus, which had the longest search time, the other five species did not differ in this aspect of the foraging behavior. Three groups were also discernible in relation to sally distance: F. nengeta and M. rixosa usually attacked prey close (< 2 m) to them, A. leucocephala, P. sulphuratus and M. similis form a medium-distance (3-4 m) group, and T. melancholicus had the longest sally distances (up to 12 m). Birds differ in details of the sally angle that, together with other subtle differences in the foraging behavior, may render important differences in prey selection.

Birds foraging for fruits and insects in shrubby restinga vegetation, southeastern Brazil

“…Tyrants were investigated in greater detail in other works: Camptostoma spp. used only gleaning manuevers (Fitzpatrick 1980), although C. obsoletum used glean and sally-strike in the same proportions (Gabriel & Pizo 2005), and Elaenia spp used only sallies (Fitzpatrick 1980, Cintra 1997, Gabriel & Pizo 2005. Those behaviors seem to be conservative for the species, independently of habitat, being forest edges or shrubby vegetations, as in restinga.…”

Foraging of Great Kiskadees (Pitangus sulphuratus) and food items offered to nestlings in the Pantanal

“…Additional available data on nestlings' diet include the consumption of the frog Scinax nasicus, recorded at our study site (Toledo et al, 2005). The predominance of Aerial Hawking and Perch-gleaning behaviors over other ones is a common pattern among Tyrannidae species (Gabriel and Pizo, 2005;Lopes et al, 2005;Fitzpatrick, 1980). At the study site, the high frequency of these two behaviors was likely related to the small size of insects and C. cujabensis fruit, which impels the birds to carry out multiple events of capture to achieve a certain food amount for feeding nestlings.…”

“…Gabriel and Pizo, 2005;Bañbura et al, 1999). We estimated time benefit:cost ratios for the parental birds according to different food types offered for feeding nestlings.…”

“…It can forage over variable substrates, such as in the air, on foliage, branches, ground or water, preying on small vertebrates and invertebrates or feeding on fruits and flowers (Latino and Beltzer, 1999;Gabriel and Pizo, 2005;Fischer et al, 2010). However, P. sulphuratus behavior and manipulation of food items offered for nestlings have been poorly studied (Lago-Paiva, 1996;Argel-de-Oliveira et al, 1998;Toledo et al, 2005).…”

Comportamento de forrageamento e dieta de Polystictus superciliaris (Aves, Tyrannidae) no sudeste do Brasil

“…Dessa forma, tais aspectos da biologia dos Tyrannidae têm sido objeto de vários estudos (SKUTCH, 1960;SMITH, 1971;FITZPATRICK, 1980FITZPATRICK, , 1985PARKER, 1984;GABRIEL & PIZO, 2005;LOPES, 2005).…”