Birds of a Second-Growth Rain Forest Area of Nicaragua

Howell, Thomas R.

doi:10.2307/1364570

Cited by 38 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Ocellated Antbirds (Phaenostictus mcleannani, Formicariidae) are the largest (about 50 g) and least common of the three main species of antbirds that persistently follow army ants and capture arthropods flushed by the ants in the undergrowth of humid tropical forests from Honduras to Ecuador (Johnson, 1954;Howell, 1957;Slud, 1960Slud, , 1964. Earlier (Willis, 1967(Willis, , 1972a I reported on the medium-sized (30 g) Bicolored Antbird (Gymnopithys bicolor) and small (17.5 g) Spotted Antbird (Hylophylax naevioides).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The behavior of ocellated antbirds

Willis¹

1973

Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology

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Willis, Edwin O. The Behavior of Ocellated Antbirds. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, number 144, 57 pages, 25 figures, 1973.-A ten-year study of color-banded Ocellated Antbirds (Phaenostictus mcleannani) on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, showed that they persistently follow army ants for arthropods flushed by the ants. Dominant over the smaller antbirds that follow ants, they take the best zone low over the center of an ant swarm and drop to the ground for prey. They rest and preen for long periods of maintenance behavior each day, probably because as dominant birds they get food easily. Alarm behavior is similar to that of other antbirds. Agonistic behavior contrasts with other antbirds in having a silent challenging display and an unusually wide spectrum of submissive calls and postures. Courtship is mainly courtship feeding and singing; monogamous mates stay together for years. The nest is probably sunk in the ground between tree buttresses. Males incubate in the morning and late afternoon, females in the early afternoon and at night. Males and females feed nestlings and fledglings. Pairs renest repeatedly during the rainy season, April to December, but nest predation is high. Young are feeding themselves a month after appearing at swarms with their parents, but then irregularly stay with their parents up to several months (females) or years (males). Loose patrilineal clans form, in which gene transfer between clans is mainly by movement of young females. Daughters-in-law are tolerated. Clan members sometimes forage together, but use much submissive display. They close ranks or "bunch" in disputes with other pairs or clans. The social system is somewhat like that of chimpanzee groups and perhaps like that of early mantwo other dominant animals dependent on local and varying sources of food. The clan system permits complete overlap of home ranges of pairs. The parental pair in an area tends to dominate trespassing pairs and their own offspring. This social system permits great local concentration over good ant swarms. It is facilitated by tolerance for related birds, silent (and thus less disturbing) challenging, and by a wide variety of submissive displays. The Ocellated Antbirds on Barro Colorado concentrated at ant swarms on escarpment zones near the center of the island. Even with these concentrations, however, the species declined to near extirpation between 1960 and 1971. OFFICIAL PUBLICATION DATE is handstamped in a limited number of initial copies and is recorded in the Institution's annual report, Smithsonian Year. SI PRESS NUMBER 4774. SERIES COVER DESIGN: The coral Montastrea cavernosa (Linnaeus). Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Willis, Edwin O. The behavior of ocellated antbirds. (Smithsonian contributions to zoology, no. 144) 1. Ocellated antbird-Behavior. I. Title. II. Series: Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian contributions to zoology, no. 144. QL1.S54 no. 144 [QL696.P2] 591'.08s [598.1'11] 72-13261 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents,

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The behavior of ocellated antbirds

Willis¹

1973

Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology

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“…The composition of the avifauna in alliance with the wet-forested environment at "La Selva" provides a basis for another kind of comparison dealing with individual species. For example, Howell (1957) has reported on "El Recreo," a locality in southeastern Nicaragua, which is situated 120 miles north of "La Selva" on the other side of the Nicaraguan "break," and which, in the absence of details, one is led to assume to be wet lowland. But, although Howell called it a second-growth rain forest area, the size and composition of the avifauna, compared with that of "La Selva," make one suspicious that it has moist-forested conditions, perhaps even transitional to dry-forested.…”

Section: Vol 121 132 Discussion and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Birds of Finca "La Selva," Costa Rica: A Tropical Wet Forest Locality Paul Slud

Eisenmann¹

1961

The Auk

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“…As a member of Herpetotheres, this species is considered to be a specialized predator of reptiles and there are innumerable accounts of their predation of snakes, including venomous (Howell 1957, Skutch 1960, Wetmore 1965, Parker 1990, Enamorado and Orrego 1992, DuVal et al 2006, Specht et al 2008) and nonvenomous species (Sazima andAbe 1990, MottaJunior et al 2010). This falcon is also known to capture other small vertebrates, such as lizards, bats, rodents, rabbits, and small birds (Sick 1993, Parker 1997, Fergusson-Lees and Christie 2001, Specht et al 2008, Miller et al 2010), although few detailed data are available on the predation of animals other than snakes.…”

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confidence: 99%