Breeding ecology of the Atlas Pied FlycatcherFicedula speculigerain an old oakQuercus suberforest in northeastern Algeria

Diet composition of the Atlas Flycatcher Ficedula speculigera in Northeastern Algeria

“…We found only fragments of adult butterflies in faecal sacs, which is not the case for the food items collected with the collar method from Atlas Flycatcher nestlings, analyzed by Boudeffa (2014) where he found that caterpillars represent more than 23% of consumed items. The absence of caterpillar traces in the faecal sacs can be linked to two factors: The first relates to digestion because the caterpillars are soft and not very chitinous, so they leave no visible trace after passing through the digestive tract of the chicks.…”

“…The main purpose of the paper was to draw attention to the trophic ecology of the Atlas Flycatcher, a species endemic to North Africa by analyzing nestling's faecal sacs. To our best knowledge, only one study has reported the diet of the Atlas Flycatcher in Algeria, done by Boudeffa (2014) in a cork oak forest in eastern Algeria, using the neck-collar method on nestlings.…”

“…In our study, the diet consists mainly of Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Araneae, Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera. Boudeffa (2014) collected 804 food items, mainly composed of lepidopteran larvae (23.4%) and Hemiptera (17.9%), represented mainly by wood bugs. Diptera occupy the third rank in the composition of the diet with a percentage of 16.5% among the prey brought.…”

“…Perrins (1979) reports that sometimes an obstacle to the analysis of faecal sacs can occur, in the case of unpleasant or dangerous preys, such as certain caterpillars or the larvae of Hymenoptera, the parents are known to prepare particular elements by decapitating them, it results that the mandibles which are from a diagnostic point of view very important part of the body, are absent in the food brought by the parents and, consequently, absent in the faecal sacs. In addition, Boudeffa (2014), point out that the proportion of caterpillars decreases along the season to the benefit of other prey groups. This decline causes an increase in the size of preys, a diversification of the diet and a reduction in its digestibility.…”

“…Aspects of the biology and ecology of this species still poorly understood in North Africa. In this context, only the work of Boudeffa (2014) can be mentioned, who was interested in the breeding biology and trophic ecology of this species in a cork oak forest (Quercus suber) in the region of El Kala in the extreme Northeast Algeria. The diet composition was studied by analyzing the food bolus of the chicks using the collar method.…”