Search

Hippoboscid flies, also known as louse flies, are obligate blood-feeders ectoparasites of birds and mammals. By studying louse fly parasites of four Passeriformes species, Eurasian blackbird (Turdus merula), Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), common chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) and European robin (Erithacus rubecula), with dissimilar time of colonization of Azores islands, we tested whether: (i) island host populations have lower parasite richness than the mainland one; (ii) island host populations undergo higher parasite prevalence, mean intensities and mean abundance than the mainland one; (iii) island parasite diversity are composed exclusively by specific parasites and (iv) parasite richness is positively correlated with the island area and proximity to the continent. For these purposes, 775 birds were sampled for presence of louse flies, by modified fumigation chamber method, from Azores Islands (São Miguel, Terceira and Flores) and Portugal mainland. Insular and mainland parasite assemblages were statistically compared. We record for the first time to Azores, Ornithomya fringillina and Icosta minor from Portugal mainland. Louse flies had highest prevalence and abundance from Azores Islands compared to those observed in mainland birds, especially blackbirds. The insular parasite diversity of Azores blackbirds, blackcaps and chaffinches was richer than the one observed in mainland population. None of the hippoboscid flies observed on the islands and mainland were host-specific. Thus, our findings provide an upgrade of parasite island syndromes knowledge, in the context of the ectoparasites, namely to the hippoboscid flies case., Graphical abstract Image 1, Highlights • We investigate the louse flies of four Passeriformes species from Macaronesia. • Louse flies of Azores blackbirds had highest prevalence than in mainland birds. • Insular parasite diversity was richer than the one observed in mainland population. • Hippoboscid flies observed on the islands and mainland were not host-specific. • Ornithomya fringillina recorded for the first time to Azores.

Moult of birds is shaped by environmental and genetic drivers whose relative contribution to the structure of feathers may differ within and between populations. In this study, we compare some traits of tail feathers (growth bars, mass, rachis width and barb length) between four populations of the Eurasian blackcap Sylvia atricapilla breeding at different elevations within the southwestern Palaearctic. We tested if these traits were related to the primary productivity of habitats (a surrogate of food availability) or were better explained as an adaptation to altitudinal movements. The distribution of primary productivity was positively related to blackcap abundance suggesting that the species tracked the most productive areas to breed. In this environmental setting, wing morphology (wing length, concavity and pointedness) suggested that lowland blackcaps were sedentary while blackcaps from highland areas were involved in altitudinal movements. The feathers of blackcaps inhabiting the highlands showed wider growth bars and rachis than those of the most productive lowland areas but did not differ in feather mass and barb length. Fast feather growth has been related to time constraints to moult and wider rachis to improve flight efficiency in migratory birds. Our results therefore suggest that differences in feather characteristics between southern populations of the Eurasian blackcap are better interpreted as an adaptive response to altitudinal migration than as a consequence of regional food availability.

1. The recent boost in bird migration studies following the development of various tracking devices raised awareness of how detrimental attaching devices can be for animals. Such effects can occur during migration, but also immediately post-release if the device impairs escape flight performance and, consequently, the bird’s ability to evade predators. 2. In this study, we investigated the effect of carrying a device on the escape flight speed and aerodynamic force production in a migratory passerine. We recorded upward-directed escape flights of 15 male blackcaps. Each individual was tested without a tag, and when equipped with three different leg-loop dummy tags with masses representing around 3%, 5% and 7% of their body mass. The experiment was designed such that all individuals passed through all treatments in a randomized order. 3. We found that two factors affected flight speed in roughly equal amounts: first, tagged escape flights had lower flight speeds compared to the control flights, irrespective of tag mass. Second, we found an effect of the total mass, i.e. the sum of the masses of the individual bird and of the tag, with heavier birds being slower. In contrast, flight speed was not correlated with relative tag mass in percentage of body mass, the metric commonly used in ethical guidelines for tag attachment. Aerodynamic flight force production also depended on total mass, with heavier birds producing higher forces. But these flight forces did not differ between flights with or without a tag. 4. We conclude that, when tagging birds, it is misleading to choose heavy individuals for tagging in order to minimize the tag mass as a percentage of body mass. This is particularly relevant in species for which body mass is not necessarily related to size, like migratory birds that accumulate large fat reserves. The lower escape speed in “tagged” flights could not be explained by differences in net flight force production, because these did not differ between flights with and without a tag. This suggests that the tag also affected pre-flight take-off dynamics, possibly due to a leg harness-induced reduction in leg push-off performance.

Frugivores are critical components of restoration programs because they are seed dispersers. Thus, knowledge about bird-plant trophic relationships is essential in the evaluation of the efficacy of restoration processes. Traditionally, the diet of frugivores is characterized by microscopically identifying plant residues in droppings, which is time-consuming, requires botanical knowledge, and cannot be used for fragments lacking detectable morphological characteristics (e.g., fragmented seeds and skins). We examined whether DNA barcoding can be used as a universal tool to rapidly characterize the diet of a frugivorous bird, Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla). We used the DNA barcoding results to assess restoration efforts and monitor the diversity of potentially dispersed plants in a protected area in northern Italy. We collected 642 Eurasian Blackcap droppings at the restored site during the autumn migration over 3 years. Intact seeds and fragmented plant material were analyzed at 2 plastidial barcode loci (rbcL and trnH-psbA), and the resulting plant identifications were validated by comparison with a reference molecular data set of local flora. At least 17 plant species, including 7 of the 11 newly transplanted taxa, were found. Our results demonstrate the potential for DNA barcoding to be used to monitor the effectiveness of restoration plantings and to obtain information about fruit consumption and dispersal of invasive or unexpected plant species. Such an approach provides valuable information that could be used to study local plant biodiversity and to survey its evolution over time.

1. The recent boost in bird migration studies following the development of various tracking devices raised awareness of how detrimental attaching devices can be for animals. Such effects can occur during migration, but also immediately post-release if the device impairs escape flight performance and, consequently, the bird’s ability to evade predators. 2. In this study, we investigated the effect of carrying a device on the escape flight speed and aerodynamic force production in a migratory passerine. We recorded upward-directed escape flights of 15 male blackcaps. Each individual was tested without a tag, and when equipped with three different leg-loop dummy tags with masses representing around 3%, 5% and 7% of their body mass. The experiment was designed such that all individuals passed through all treatments in a randomized order. 3. We found that two factors affected flight speed in roughly equal amounts: first, tagged escape flights had lower flight speeds compared to the control flights, irrespective of tag mass. Second, we found an effect of the total mass, i.e. the sum of the masses of the individual bird and of the tag, with heavier birds being slower. In contrast, flight speed was not correlated with relative tag mass in percentage of body mass, the metric commonly used in ethical guidelines for tag attachment. Aerodynamic flight force production also depended on total mass, with heavier birds producing higher forces. But these flight forces did not differ between flights with or without a tag. 4. We conclude that, when tagging birds, it is misleading to choose heavy individuals for tagging in order to minimize the tag mass as a percentage of body mass. This is particularly relevant in species for which body mass is not necessarily related to size, like migratory birds that accumulate large fat reserves. The lower escape speed in “tagged” flights could not be explained by differences in net flight force production, because these did not differ between flights with and without a tag. This suggests that the tag also affected pre-flight take-off dynamics, possibly due to a leg harness-induced reduction in leg push-off performance.

Development during the relatively short time that young spend in the nest is crucial in a bird's life history. The rate of nestling growth strongly depends on numerous environmental and social factors, even within the same species or population. In the present study I examine the relative contributions of brood size, hatching asynchrony, hatching date and feeding rate in determining intraspecific variation in the growth of Eurasian Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla nestlings. I found a significant effect of brood size, hatching order and date on nestling development. However, the effect of hatching order and date was significant only for young nestlings and it gradually disappeared with nestling age. The only factor significantly affecting nestling development just before fledging was brood size. Nests of four siblings produced the heaviest young with the longest tarsi. This probably resulted from the highest feeding rate per nestling observed in broods of four nestlings. The study shows that for Blackcaps bree...

Reusing old nests for breeding might provide birds with benefits such as saving the time and energy needed to build a new nest, or by decreasing the risk of predation while building a nest. Despite these benefits, many species use their nests only once. This study aimed to determine how frequently Eurasian Blackcaps Sylvia atricapilla, which build delicate open cup nests that are particularly susceptible to damage, might reuse their nest within a season and if extensive damage to a nest limited its reuse. I conducted the study in 2002–2008 in forests next to the city of Bydgoszcz in central Poland. I examined 479 Blackcap nests after the failure or success of the nest was known. Nests were classified as damaged or undamaged (73.7% of the sample). Only four nests were reused, representing 0.8% of all nests and 1.1% of the undamaged nests. The large number of undamaged but inactive nests indicated that the extent of damage was unlikely to be the reason that nests were rarely reused. The study also showed th...

Migratory birds are known to use the Earth's magnetic field as an orientation cue on their tremendous journeys between their breeding and overwintering grounds. The magnetic compass of migratory birds relies on the magnetic field's inclination, i.e. the angle between the magnetic field lines and the Earth's surface. As a consequence, vertical or horizontal field lines corresponding to 0° or 90° inclination should offer no utilizable information on where to find North or South. So far, very little is known about how small deviations from horizontal or vertical inclination migratory birds can detect and use as a reference for their magnetic compass. Here we ask: what is the steepest inclination angle at which a migratory bird, the Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), can still perform magnetic compass orientation in Emlen funnels? Our results show that blackcaps are able to orient in an Earth's strength magnetic field with inclination angles of 67° and 85°, but fail to orient in a field with 88° inclination. This suggests that the steepest inclination angle enabling magnetic compass orientation in migratory blackcaps tested in Emlen funnels lies between 85 and 88 degrees.