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Conspecific aggregation of waterfowl in winter is a common example of animal flocking behaviour, yet patterns of relatedness and temporal substructure in such social groups remain poorly understood even in common species. A previous study based on mark‐recapture data showed that Tufted Ducks Aythya fuligula caught on the same day were re‐caught together in subsequent winters more often than expected...
The fossil ibis Plegadis paganus is known from the Early Miocene of the Saint‐Gérand‐le‐Puy area, France. It was first described in the 19th century by Milne‐Edwards (1867–1868), who noticed similarities with members of the extant genera Eudocimus and Plegadis, a view endorsed by subsequent descriptions. The fossil's present placement within the genus Plegadis is not supported by synapomorphic features,...
Birds employ varying strategies to accommodate the energetic demands of moult, one important example being changes in body mass. To understand better their physiological and ecological significance, we tested three hypotheses concerning body mass dynamics during moult. We studied Black Brant in 2006 and 2007 moulting at three sites in Alaska which varied in food availability, breeding status and whether...
Upland birds are predicted to be particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, yet few studies have examined these effects on their breeding phenology and productivity. Laying dates of Red Grouse Lagopus lagopus scotica in the Scottish Highlands advanced by 0.5 days/year between 1992 and 2011 and were inversely correlated with pre‐laying temperature, with a near‐significant increase in...
Many bird species lay eggs speckled with protoporphyrin‐based spots, however, for most of them the function of eggshell spotting is unknown. A plausible hypothesis is that protoporphyrin might have a structural function in strengthening the eggshell and is therefore deposited when calcium is scarce. In this study, we experimentally provided Great Tit Parus major females with supplemental calcium to...
We examined the brood sex ratio and offspring body mass in relation to the timing of breeding and brood size in the Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis. The brood sex ratio was not related to brood size but it was significantly related to the hatching date, with a decreasing proportion of males in the brood in the course of the season. Male chicks had significantly lower body mass if they...
Recently, Schroeder et al. (2010, Ibis 152: 368–377) suggested that intronic variation in the CHD1‐Z gene of Black‐tailed Godwits breeding in southwest Friesland, The Netherlands, correlated with fitness components. Here we re‐examine this surprising result using an expanded dataset (2088 birds sampled from 2004 to 2010 vs. 284 birds from 2004 to 2007). We find that the presence of the Z* allele (9%...
In bird species that have a high movement capacity, dispersal may connect subpopulations over vast geographical regions, with important consequences for the design of conservation management strategies. Here we used a molecular approach to infer the patterns and rates of dispersal among eight Mediterranean subpopulations of the endangered Bonelli's Eagle, based on 245 individuals screened at 17 microsatellite...
Urban habitats are noisy and constrain acoustic communication in birds. We analysed the effect of anthropogenic noise on the vocalization characteristics of House Wrens Troglodytes aedon at two sites with different noise levels (rural and urban). We measured in each song and song trill the frequency bandwidth, maximum amplitude, highest and minimum frequency, and trill rate. In noisy urban environments,...
Seasonal fecundity is a composite metric that is determined by component parameters such as clutch size, nest survival and re‐nesting probability. Many of these component parameters are known to vary with environmental conditions, in particular rainfall prior to or during the breeding season. In some species, seasonal fecundity is positively related to rainfall, but little is known about which component...
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