RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Seasonal feeding habits of the Iberian bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula iberiae in northwestern Spain
A1 Hernández Lázaro, Ángel
K1 Age-related dietary patterns
K1 Food selection
K1 Foraging behaviour
K1 Fringillidae
K1 Sex-related dietary patterns
K1 Temporal dietary patterns
K1 2401.20 Ornitología
K1 2401.02 Comportamiento Animal
AB The first comprehensive approach to the feeding ecology of Iberian bullfinches Pyrrhula pyrrhula iberiae is presented here.The target population inhabited hedgerows in northwestern Spain. Throughout a 6-year main period, the bullfinches weredirectly observed while searching for and consuming food. Interannual variation in diet was irrelevant, so data from allyears were pooled. Availability of plant species and their selection as food resource was assessed. The general categories offood consumed varied significantly between seasons, with a high contribution of fleshy fruits in autumn–winter, tree budsin spring, and herb seeds in summer. The breeding season diet included a considerable proportion of invertebrates. Generally,sex- and age-related variations in diet were not significant throughout the seasons. Bullfinches preferred specific plantspecies as a food resource in each season and ignored others. The selected fleshy fruit seeds were small in size, in particularthickness, which probably made handling easier. The most consumed buds were numerous per cm of twig and were flowerbuds, which presumably provided, comparatively, high energy gain per unit time. Generally, favourite herb seeds were containedin small achenes, easy to handle and dehusk. Invertebrate prey identified was small insects and spiders. Bullfinchesobtained most of their food while perching, regardless of sex or age, but some important fruits, and the arthropods, werefrequently obtained in flight. The high diversity of woody plants and food sources found in hedgerows surely protected fruittrees from the detrimental effect of bullfinches and provided this passerine species with a wide range of habitat resources.
PB Springer
SN 2662-673X
YR 2022
FD 2022
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/64955
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/64955
LA eng
NO Ornithology Research, 2022, vol. 30, n. 3, p. 155–173
NO Producción Científica
DS UVaDOC
RD 15-ago-2024