Daily foraging routines and feeding effort of a small bird feeding on a predictable resource
Olsson, Ola LU
; Wiktander, Ulf
and Nilsson, Sven
LU
(2000)
In Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences
267(1451).
p.1457-1461
- Abstract
- According to theory, a small diurnal bird living in a predictable environment should have the highest feeding effort as late as possible in the day in order to minimize the time it carries large and costly reserves. The feeding effort should also decline with increasing food availability. We tested both these ideas with the lesser spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos minor). For most of the year, this bird feeds on wood-living insects in dead tree branches. This food supply is likely to be highly predictable on a daily scale. Our results corroborated the theory. We found that the proportion of time spent actively feeding was lower in the mornings (before noon) than in the afternoons. We also found that woodpeckers spent less time feeding the... (More)
- According to theory, a small diurnal bird living in a predictable environment should have the highest feeding effort as late as possible in the day in order to minimize the time it carries large and costly reserves. The feeding effort should also decline with increasing food availability. We tested both these ideas with the lesser spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos minor). For most of the year, this bird feeds on wood-living insects in dead tree branches. This food supply is likely to be highly predictable on a daily scale. Our results corroborated the theory. We found that the proportion of time spent actively feeding was lower in the mornings (before noon) than in the afternoons. We also found that woodpeckers spent less time feeding the higher their food availability. However, for a given food availability they spent more time feeding in the afternoons. This supports the idea that feeding is less and other activities are more valuable in the mornings given a predictable food resource. This is the first demonstration of daily routines in small birds concordant with a predictable environment. In spring, males but not females reduced their feeding time. This difference between the sexes may be related to their sex-specific reproductive effort. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/145966
- author
- Olsson, Ola
LU
; Wiktander, Ulf
and Nilsson, Sven
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2000
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences
- volume
- 267
- issue
- 1451
- pages
- 1457 - 1461
- publisher
- Royal Society Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:0034702472
- pmid:10983831
- ISSN
- 1471-2954
- DOI
- 10.1098/rspb.2000.1164
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- e3d34027-9345-4ee1-aefe-a18dc77c680f (old id 145966)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 12:22:24
- date last changed
- 2022-02-26 06:11:31
@article{e3d34027-9345-4ee1-aefe-a18dc77c680f,
abstract = {{According to theory, a small diurnal bird living in a predictable environment should have the highest feeding effort as late as possible in the day in order to minimize the time it carries large and costly reserves. The feeding effort should also decline with increasing food availability. We tested both these ideas with the lesser spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos minor). For most of the year, this bird feeds on wood-living insects in dead tree branches. This food supply is likely to be highly predictable on a daily scale. Our results corroborated the theory. We found that the proportion of time spent actively feeding was lower in the mornings (before noon) than in the afternoons. We also found that woodpeckers spent less time feeding the higher their food availability. However, for a given food availability they spent more time feeding in the afternoons. This supports the idea that feeding is less and other activities are more valuable in the mornings given a predictable food resource. This is the first demonstration of daily routines in small birds concordant with a predictable environment. In spring, males but not females reduced their feeding time. This difference between the sexes may be related to their sex-specific reproductive effort.}},
author = {{Olsson, Ola and Wiktander, Ulf and Nilsson, Sven}},
issn = {{1471-2954}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1451}},
pages = {{1457--1461}},
publisher = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
series = {{Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences}},
title = {{Daily foraging routines and feeding effort of a small bird feeding on a predictable resource}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/2896669/625077.pdf}},
doi = {{10.1098/rspb.2000.1164}},
volume = {{267}},
year = {{2000}},
}