The Avifauna of Rottnest Island, Western Australia

Storr, G. M.

doi:10.1071/mu964048

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…All but three of 167 clutches contained only a single egg; the remainder contained two. Occasional clutches of two eggs have also been recorded elsewhere (Storr, 1964;Gerhart & Turner, 1978;Langham, 1984), but it is not clear whether these are the product of more than one female. Eggs varied greatly in base Birds in immature plumage were fed by adults for several months, although they could also be seen fishing for themselves during this time.…”

Section: Breeding Cyclementioning

confidence: 97%

The biology of terns nesting at Aldabra Atoll, Indian Ocean, with particular reference to breeding seasonality

Diamond

Prŷs-Jones

1986

Journal of Zoology

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Five species of tern breed on Aldabra Atoll (09° 24′ S; 46° 20′ E). The Caspian tern Sterna caspia and Crested tern S. bergii feed exclusively in very shallow reef/lagoon water, the Fairy tern Gygis alba and Brown noddy Anous stolidus feed out at sea, and the Black‐naped tern Sterna sumatrana is intermediate in its foraging. Both of the shallow‐water species lay during the south‐east monsoon season, the Caspian tern from April to August and the Crested tern from June to August, but the Crested tern also lays in December and January. The remaining three species have extended laying periods largely circumscribed by the north‐west monsoon season from November to March. Breeding population size of the Caspian tern is in the low tens and of the Brown noddy in the low thousands, with the other species each numbering in the hundreds. The distribution and abundance of the nine species of tern breeding within the Seychelles (sensu lato) vary on the different island groups in a manner interpretable in terms of depth of the surrounding waters. Systematic differences between the central Seychelles and Aldabra groups in timing of breeding by terns which feed out at sea may be associated with seasonal latitudinal movement of the divergence zone between the South Equatorial Current and the Equatorial Counter‐current, acting via correlated latitudinal shifts of prey species and game‐fish abundance.

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Section: Breeding Cyclementioning

confidence: 97%

The biology of terns nesting at Aldabra Atoll, Indian Ocean, with particular reference to breeding seasonality

Diamond

Prŷs-Jones

1986

Journal of Zoology

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“…It has been reported to nest under the arching stems of a sedge on Rottnest Island (Storr, 1964), under vegetation on Pitcairn Island (Williams, 1960), on the ground under bushes on Christmas Island (Holt, 1958), and in cavities in cliff faces on Lord Howe Island (Hindwood, Keith, and Serventy, 1963).…”

Section: Nest Site Selection and Nest Constructionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The Red-Tailed Tropicbird on Kure Atoll

Fleet¹

1974

Ornithological Monographs

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“…'In 1955 I observed them in the Tuart plantation and nearby teatree scrub south of Mud Lake. Many more were seen in 1956 …' (Storr 1965). Storr's notes also indicated that he followed the spread of the population over subsequent years.…”

Section: Study Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid evolution of a novel song and an increase in repertoire size in an island population of an Australian songbird

Baker

2003

Ibis

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Cultural innovations are commonly noted in animals, but times of development of novel traits are usually unknown. We report here a novel song type arising in a bird population on an offshore island of Western Australia where the time of colonization of the island by the Western Gerygone Gerygone fusca is known. On the mainland, a single song type is widespread. On Rottnest Island, many individuals sing a different type of song and a number possess a repertoire of two song types: the standard song shared with the mainland and the novel song type not found on the neighbouring mainland. The novel song type found on Rottnest is so different in its syntactical structure that one could easily mistake it for that of a new species. The characteristic song of mainland birds is irregular in the frequencies at which the notes within a song are delivered. The novel song on Rottnest has a highly structured syntax with notes delivered at a strict and repeated sequence of frequencies resulting in a rhythmic musical sound. The species is known to have colonized Rottnest in about 1955. The new song type apparently developed rapidly by cultural evolution in the last 50 years.

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The Avifauna of Rottnest Island, Western Australia

Cited by 13 publications

References 11 publications

The biology of terns nesting at Aldabra Atoll, Indian Ocean, with particular reference to breeding seasonality

The biology of terns nesting at Aldabra Atoll, Indian Ocean, with particular reference to breeding seasonality

The Red-Tailed Tropicbird on Kure Atoll

Rapid evolution of a novel song and an increase in repertoire size in an island population of an Australian songbird

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