“An inordinate fondness for beetles”: first description of Common Nighthawk (<i>Chordeiles minor</i>) diet in the boreal biome

Knight, Elly C.; Ng, John N.; Mader, Caitlin; Brigham, R. Mark; Bayne, Erin M.

doi:10.1676/16-219.1

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The low Common Nighthawk occupancy (0.064) we observed in agricultural areas was surprising because other studies have shown that Common Nighthawks use a wide variety of habitats for nesting (Brigham et al 2011, COSEWIC 2018 and foraging, including agricultural areas, wetlands, water, and urban centers, if food is available (Brigham 1989, Knight et al 2018. The mean occupancy for Common Nighthawks was only about one-third that of Eastern Whip-poor-wills, while detection estimates were similar (Fig.…”

Section: Common Nighthawkmentioning

confidence: 64%

The effects of landscape composition and configuration on Eastern Whip-poor-will (Caprimulgus vociferous) and Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) occupancy in an agroecosystem

Vala¹,

Mitchell²,

Hannah³

et al. 2020

ACE

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Agricultural expansion and intensification are some of the leading drivers of biodiversity loss globally. Effective conservation and management strategies for threatened species in agroecosystems require information on how these species are affected by (1) the amount and configuration of natural habitats, and (2) the type and extent of agricultural land covers. The Eastern Whippoor-will (Caprimulgus vociferous) and Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) are two nocturnal aerial insectivores in decline in North America, and have breeding ranges that include agriculturally dominated landscapes. We first assessed mean breeding occupancy of both species in eastern Ontario, Canada in 2016 using acoustic recording units at 127 sites. We then assessed the effects of landscape composition (forest, agriculture, wetlands, and urban covers), forest configuration (mean patch size, number of patches, distance to nearest patch), and agriculture type (perennial forages versus cropland) on Eastern Whip-poor-will occupancy. Eastern Whip-poorwill and Common Nighthawk occupancy in the study area averaged 0.244 and 0.064, respectively. We were unable to examine the relationships between landscape composition/configuration and Common Nighthawk occupancy because of small sample sizes. Nonetheless, Eastern Whip-poor-will occupancy was positively correlated with the amount of wetland cover and forest patch size, was weakly negatively correlated with urban land cover, and was unrelated to the type of agriculture. Our results highlight how the conservation of the Eastern Whip-poor-will in agricultural landscapes of eastern Canada would benefit from both wetland protection and the presence of larger forest patches, which can be accomplished through both forest protection and by allowing forest regeneration on abandoned lands.Les effets de la composition et de la configuration du paysage sur la présence de l'Engoulevent boispourri (Caprimulgus vociferous) et de l'Engoulevent d'Amérique (Chordeiles minor) dans un agroécosystème RÉSUMÉ. L'expansion et l'intensification de l'agriculture sont parmi les causes principales de perte de biodiversité à l'échelle mondiale. Pour que les stratégies de conservation et de gestion des espèces menacées vivant dans les agroécosystèmes soient efficaces, il est important de savoir comment ces espèces sont affectées par (1) la superficie et la configuration des milieux naturels, et (2) le type et l'étendue des terres agricoles. L'Engoulevent bois-pourri (Caprimulgus vociferous) et l'Engoulevent d'Amérique (Chordeiles minor) sont deux insectivores aériens nocturnes en diminution en Amérique du Nord, et leur aire de nidification comprend des paysages dominés par l'agriculture. Premièrement, nous avons déterminé la présence de ces deux espèces au moment de la nidification dans l'est de l'Ontario, Canada, à l'aide d'enregistreurs automatiques à 127 sites en 2016. Nous avons ensuite évalué les effets de la composition du paysage (couvert forestier, agricole, de milieux humides ou urbain), de la configuration forestièr...

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Section: Common Nighthawkmentioning

confidence: 64%

The effects of landscape composition and configuration on Eastern Whip-poor-will (Caprimulgus vociferous) and Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) occupancy in an agroecosystem

Vala¹,

Mitchell²,

Hannah³

et al. 2020

ACE

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“…Contrary to expectation, no significant difference in sample composition or diversity was found between male and female Nightjars (Mata et al 2016, Knight et al 2018. We expected to find that females had less diverse diets than males, because of their limited foraging opportunity (Houston et al 1997).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…This species completes an annual migration from central Africa to the UK to breed from May until August, and feeds on arthropods (Cramp 1985, Sharps 2013. Limited diet data have been obtained through stomach content analysis and physical dissection of faeces from European Nightjars and the Common Nighthawk Chordeiles minor (Sierro et al 2001, Sharps 2013, Knight et al 2018). However, these methods result in a bias towards remaining hard parts of consumed arthropods such as beetle elytra, legs and antennae, which means that methods such as metabarcoding that are capable of identifying partially or fully digested remains are needed.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Metabarcoding reveals selective dietary responses to environmental availability in the diet of a nocturnal, aerial insectivore, the European Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus)

Mitchell

Horsburgh

Dawson

et al. 2021

Ibis

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Many bird species are vulnerable to environmental change, so knowledge of their diet and its variation can help understand population status and flexibility to respond to change. Insectivorous species are predicted to have a flexible diet within and between individuals, which can respond to naturally fluctuating prey abundance, thus allowing opportunistic exploitation of available resources. We analysed the diet of a nocturnal, aerial insectivore, the European Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus, using high-throughput metabarcoding. We quantified diet diversity and composition of 130 faecal samples from nests and roosts on a northern breeding site in the UK from 2015 to 2018, and compared differences among individuals and years. Although dominated by moths, diet varied significantly between individual faecal samples and between years and months. Prey species composition varied between years, and was more variable between samples in 2017 than in other years. Faecal samples were significantly more likely to contain moth species with a wingspan of > 60 mm and less likely to contain moth species of < 25 mm wingspan. This indicated size-selective foraging, which also varied between months and years. Diet was driven by interindividual variation, indicating population-level flexibility in prey choice. Metabarcoding provided a valuable tool in the exploration of insectivorous diets, but efforts are needed to build comprehensive reference libraries in order to compile full prey species lists.

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“…To date, analysis of food items in birds has been undertaken via administration of emetics (Poulin, Lefebvre & McNeil, 1994a; Poulin, Lefebvre & McNeil, 1994b), collection of bolus from captured birds (Knight et al, 2018), examination of stomach, crop or gizzard contents from dead specimens (Remsen, Stiles & Scott, 1986; McCloskey, Thompson & Ballard, 2009; Powers et al, 2010), or direct observation of birds foraging in the wild (e.g., Young, 1971; Montgomerie & Redsell, 1980; Stiles, 1995; Hayes et al, 2000; Toledo & Moreira, 2008; Powers et al, 2010). While useful, these approaches are generally limited to high taxonomic level assignment (Order, Family), due to problems in identifying digested fragments or the ability of the observer to classify small prey items at distance under field conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

DNA metabarcoding allows non-invasive identification of arthropod prey provisioned to nestling Rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus)

Moran

Prosser

Moran

2019

PeerJ

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Hummingbirds consume sugars from nectar, sap and honeydew, and obtain protein, fat and minerals from arthropods. To date, the identity of arthropod taxa in hummingbird diets has been investigated by observation of foraging or examination of alimentary tract contents. Direct examination of nestling provisioning adds the extra complication of disturbance to the young and mother. Here, we show that arthropod food items provisioned to Rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) nestlings can be identified by a safe and non-invasive protocol using next-generation sequencing (NGS) of DNA from nestling fecal pellets collected post-fledging. We found that females on southern Vancouver Island (British Columbia, Canada) provisioned nestlings with a wide range of arthropod taxa. The samples examined contained three Classes, eight Orders, 48 Families, and 87 Genera, with from one to 15 Families being identified in a single pellet. Soft-bodied Dipterans were found most frequently and had the highest relative abundance; hard-bodied prey items were absent from almost all samples. Substantial differences in taxa were found within season and between years, indicating the importance of multi-year sampling when defining a prey spectrum.

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“An inordinate fondness for beetles”: first description of Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) diet in the boreal biome

Cited by 8 publications

References 27 publications

The effects of landscape composition and configuration on Eastern Whip-poor-will (Caprimulgus vociferous) and Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) occupancy in an agroecosystem

The effects of landscape composition and configuration on Eastern Whip-poor-will (Caprimulgus vociferous) and Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) occupancy in an agroecosystem

Metabarcoding reveals selective dietary responses to environmental availability in the diet of a nocturnal, aerial insectivore, the European Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus)

DNA metabarcoding allows non-invasive identification of arthropod prey provisioned to nestling Rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus)

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