Open AccessMinimal diurnal change in foraging time in an Australian passerine, the white‐browed babbler Pomatostomus superciliosus
Author(s) -
Taylor Sarah G.,
Paul Warren L.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of avian biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.022
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1600-048X
pISSN - 0908-8857
DOI - 10.1111/j.0908-8857.2006.03530.x
Subject(s) - passerine , foraging , biology , ecology , predation , nest (protein structural motif) , plumage , zoology , biochemistry
This paper describes the daily foraging pattern of the white‐browed babbler Pomatostomus superciliosus , a small passerine endemic to Australia. The percentage of time spent foraging as the day progressed increased by an average of only 9%. This contrasts markedly with studies of other passerines that have mostly shown a bimodal pattern, with a peak of foraging early in the day followed by a period of reduced activity and a second peak later in the day. The most likely explanation for the observed pattern of foraging time is that babblers experienced considerable diurnal certainty in their food supply mainly as a result of stable and predictable weather conditions. The lack of a marked increase in foraging towards the end of the day might also have resulted from an increase in predation risk at this time and a reduced need to build up food reserves at the end of the day because of the energetic advantages of communal roosting in an enclosed nest.