Pied Wagtail Roosting and Feeding Behaviour

Broom, D. M.; Dick, W. J. A.; Johnson, C. E.; Sales, David I.; Zahavi, Alon

doi:10.1080/00063657609476513

Cited by 27 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 14 publications

(4 reference statements)

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“…Consequently, little is known about the behaviour of more secretive, singly roosting species. Previous studies of avian roosting have considered such aspects as the synchrony of movements (Hamilton et al 1967;Hamilton and Gilbert 1969;Counsilman 1974), group size (Broom et al 1976;Greig-Smith 1982), and the effects of light intensity (Seibert 195 1 ; Krantz and Gauthreaux 1975;Swingland 1976) and temperature (Potts 1967) on the timing of movements to and from the roost. In this paper I examine the solitary roosting behaviour of Richardson's Merlins (Falco colurnbarius richardsonii) wintering in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors affecting roost departure and entry by wintering merlins

Warkentin¹

1986

Can. J. Zool.

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Merlins (Falco columbarius) overwintering in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, depended upon mature spruce trees, planted in residential areas of the city, for roosting sites. Variation in entry times at the roost by radio-tagged Merlins was accounted for by sunset time, total daily solar radiation, and temperature. To a lesser extent the variation in departure times was explained by sunrise time and temperature. Merlins left the roost significantly earlier as the days became shorter in the period leading up to the winter solstice, but returned at the same time relative to sunset resulting in a longer active phase than that provided by natural day length.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors affecting roost departure and entry by wintering merlins

Warkentin¹

1986

Can. J. Zool.

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“…Northern breeding populations of white wagtails, especially those of Hokkaido, winter in southwest central Honshu from October to April (Yamashina 1934, Yamashina Inst. for Ornithology 1996) and join communal roosts during winter (Broom et al 1976, Watanabe and Maruyama 1977). White wagtails in this study population have been found to support three species of feather mites: Proctophyllodes motacillae , Trouessartia jedliczkai , and Analginae sp.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex and age‐class differences in feather mite loads in white wagtailsMotacilla alba lugenssuggest self‐regulation of feather mites by birds

Takagi

2022

Journal of Avian Biology

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In order to investigate the relationship between feather mites and their hosts taking into account host ecology I examined relationships among feather mite load, and sex, age, wing length and body-condition in the white wagtail Motacilla alba lugens. I captured 288 wagtails in January (the first period) 2002 at a communal roost in Osaka, central Japan. All the wagtails were ringed individually, aged as yearlings (firstwinter) or adults (older) and sexed. I measured wing length, tarsus length and body mass, calculated a body condition index (BCI) and determined the feather mite loads (FML) of each individual by visual examination of the flight feathers of one wing, giving a score using the range 0-5. I recaptured 121 wagtails after an average of 45 days (the second period), and redetermined their FML. FML was not correlated with wing length or body-condition. Yearlings had higher FML than adults in both periods. Males had greater FML than females in the second period. No significant differences in FML between the first and second periods were detected among yearling females, or adult males, but adult females had significantly lower FML and yearling males had significantly higher FML than the other age-sex classes in the second period. The sexual difference was caused by the lower FML of adult females and the higher FML of yearling males. The BCI of yearling males was the lowest among the four combinations of sex and age-class. I conclude that wagtails may be able to prevent overpopulation of feather mites on their own plumage. The ability to control mite populations may be related to the condition of the host.

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“…The birds were then roosted overnight in large cardboard boxes with air-holes, and released at first light the following morning near the roost site. Sexing of the birds was found to be unreliable under artificial light; difficulties in sexing Pied Wagtails have been reported elsewhere (Broom et al 1976, Svensson 1984.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some intra-specific aggression was noted within the roost among the beer crates, but it may also be that dominance has already been established in some way by pre-roost flights -the "mass flights" described by Chandler (1979) -after which the birds enter the roost already segregated. Although Broom et al (1976) did not witness any aerial evolutions of Pied Wagtails prior to entering their studied roost site, they were aware of this behavioural trait in the species and concluded that entry into the roost is different for different roost sites; they did observe, however, that although some Pied Wagtails often fought for position within the roost, particularly for the more sheltered sites, some flew straight to such positions on arrival and occupied exactly the same position for several nights in succession.…”

Section: Age Structurementioning

confidence: 98%