Distances moved and elapsed times between ringing and recovery for three Ploceus weavers in southern Africa

Abstract

Oatley, TB. & Underhill, L.G. 2001. Distances moved and elapsed times between ringing and recovery for three Ploceus weavers in southern Africo. Ostrich 72( 1&2): 41-44.A model-free method utilizing randomization tests was used to compare the distances moved and elapsed times between ringing and recovery. The method wos applied to ring recovery data for three weavers in southern Africa, the Cape, Ploceus capens;s, Masked, P. ve/atus, and Spotted-backed, P. cucullatus, Weavers. We found large differences in elapsed time (and therefore survival rates) between the three species, with the tropical Spotted-backed Weaver being longest-lived, the subtropical Masked Weaver being intermediate and the temperate Cape Weaver being shortest-lived. The ordering of distonces moved was in accord with size: Cape Weavers moved farthest, Spatted-backed Weavers were intermediate and Masked Weavers moved the shortest distances.

Do southern African songbirds live longer than their European counterparts?

“…2 also suggests that some of the survival estimates for the Ploceinae (true weavers) are lower than might be expected for birds of that body mass and clutch size. The low survival estimate for Quelea quelea might be related to its atypical nomadic lifestyle (Harrison et al 1997) while the low estimate for P. capensis might reflect its relatively southern and temperate distribution (Oatley and Underhill 2001). Excluding these two estimates decreases the residual adult survival for the Ploceinae from −9 (as in Fig.…”

Symposium S03: Birds in the Hand

“…Size is thus unlikely to be a major determinant of wing-moult duration. Oatley & Underhill (2001) concluded that Cape Weavers on average moved longer distances and were shorter-lived than either Masked or Spotted-backed Weavers, on the basis of which one might have predicted a shorter moult period for this species.…”