Premium
SEASONAL INCIDENCE OF BREEDING, MOULT AND LOCAL DISPERSAL OF RED‐BILLED FIREFINCHES LAGONOSTICTA SENEGALA IN ZAMBIA
Author(s) -
Payne Robert B.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
ibis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.933
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1474-919X
pISSN - 0019-1019
DOI - 10.1111/j.1474-919x.1980.tb00870.x
Subject(s) - biological dispersal , seasonal breeder , dry season , population , biology , national park , range (aeronautics) , geography , wet season , ecology , demography , materials science , sociology , composite material
Summary Red‐billed Firefinches were netted and ringed in Lochinvar National Park, Zambia, in 1972 and 1973 and were netted sporadically through 1975. Most nested from March to May, i.e., in the late rainy season and in the early dry season, though some nested as late as August. Nearly all evidently bred in their first year. Moult generally began after breeding was completed, and the indicated average duration of moult was 3–5‐4 months. The main foods taken at all times of year were seeds of the seasonal grasses Echinochloa colonum and Setaria spp. Local population densities, estimated by two methods, were in the range 33–86 birds per km 2 . Ringing results demonstrated overlapping activity ranges in the breeding season. Dispersal movements were non‐directional, and varied up to 14 km. Some ringed birds moved regularly each year between a particular waterhole and a breeding site; other did not move from the site of original ringing. Most dispersal was evident in the dry season (June and July) and in the early rains (October and November). Genetically effective dispersal of young from the site of birth to the site of the first breeding season was up to 6'8 km, and some adults were netted in sites a few kilometres apart in successive breeding seasons. Some dispersing firefinches crossed the song dialect boundaries of the Village Indigobirds.