An Experimental Study of Prey‐attack Behavior in the European Blackbird Turdus m. merula L

Schlee, Marsha A.

doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.1983.tb01338.x

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In their capacity as generalist predators birds are unlikely to possess innate specific hunting tactics, such as perfectly attacking the head of a butterfly; rather, they should be expected to have some crude innate ‘predation’ behaviours that are subject to learning through repeated encounters with prey (Schlee, ). Quite surprisingly, however, it has been demonstrated that prey‐attack behaviour may change dramatically during a predatory bird's ontogeny.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bird attacks on a butterfly with marginal eyespots and the role of prey concealment against the background

Olofsson

Jakobsson

Wiklund

2013

Biol J Linn Soc Lond

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Small eyespots on butterflies have long been thought to deflect attacks, and birds are the presumptive drivers selecting for these patterns; however, evidence of this function is still ambiguous. Marginal eyespots typically consist of a UV-reflective white pupil, surrounded by one black and one yellowish ring. We have recently shown that Cyanistes caeruleus (blue tits) attack such eyespots, but only under low light intensities with accentuated UV levels: the increased salience of the eyespots relative to the rest of the butterfly probably explains this result. Possibly the background against which the butterfly is concealed may deceive birds to make similar errors. We therefore presented speckled wood butterflies decorated with eyespots (or controls without eyespots) to C. caeruleus against two backgrounds: oak and birch bark. Our results show that: (1) eyespots, independent of background, were effective in deflecting attacks; (2) the time elapsed between a bird landing and the attack was interactively dependent on the background and whether the butterfly bore an eyespot; and (3) the speed at which a butterfly was attacked predicted the outcome, with faster birds being more prone to errors than slower birds. This underscores a speed-accuracy trade-off in the predators, and that background plays a role in the defensive qualities of marginal eyespots.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bird attacks on a butterfly with marginal eyespots and the role of prey concealment against the background

Olofsson

Jakobsson

Wiklund

2013

Biol J Linn Soc Lond

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Interspecifc variation in eye shape and retinal topography in seven species of galliform bird (Aves: Galliformes: Phasianidae)

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Eye morphology and the retinal topography of animals that live in either 'open' (e.g., grassland) or 'enclosed' (e.g., forest) terrestrial habitats show common adaptations to constraints imposed by these different habitat types. Although relationships between habitat and the visual system are well documented in most vertebrates, relatively few studies have examined this relationship in birds. Here, we compare eye shape and retinal topography across seven species from the family Phasianidae (Galliformes) that are diurnally active in either open or enclosed habitats. Species from enclosed habitats have significantly larger corneal diameters, relative to transverse diameters, than species from open habitats, which we predict serves to enhance visual sensitivity. Retinal topography, however, was similar across all seven species and consisted of a centrally positioned area centralis and a weak horizontal visual streak, with no discernible fovea. In the Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica), there was also a dorso-temporal extension of increased neuron density and, in some specimens, a putative area dorsalis. The total number of neurons in the retinal ganglion cell layer was correlated with retinal whole-mount area. Average and peak neuron densities were similar across species, with the exception of the Japanese quail, which had greater average and peak densities. Peak anatomical spatial resolving power was also similar among species, ranging from approximately 10-13 cycles/°. Overall, the pattern of retinal topography we found in phasianids is associated with ground-foraging in birds and presumably facilitates the identification of small food items on the ground as well as other visually guided behaviors, irrespective of habitat type.

show abstract

Age and foraging success in European blackbirds: variation between and with individuals

Desrochers

1992

Animal Behaviour

139

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

An Experimental Study of Prey‐attack Behavior in the European Blackbird Turdus m. merula L

Cited by 7 publications

References 16 publications

Bird attacks on a butterfly with marginal eyespots and the role of prey concealment against the background

Bird attacks on a butterfly with marginal eyespots and the role of prey concealment against the background

Interspecifc variation in eye shape and retinal topography in seven species of galliform bird (Aves: Galliformes: Phasianidae)

Age and foraging success in European blackbirds: variation between and with individuals

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About