The diet of Sand Martins during the breeding season

Waugh, David R.

doi:10.1080/00063657909476629

Cited by 19 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This is lower than the value obtained by Bryant and Turner [20] -6.01 (± SD=5.64) mg d.w., based on an analysis of food boluses obtained by collaring nestlings. However, in another study, taken using same methods (after [20,27]), the average mass of prey equalled 3.5 mg d.w., a value approximating the results here. The analysis of faeces of adult, egg-laying, birds performed by Turner [25] yielded a lower value, i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These discrepancies might indicate methodological imperfections connected with different digestion processes of chitin parts of different prey groups [33,38,40], which in the case of our study, may point to the higher number of hard elytra, limbs and mandibles of Coleoptera, ants and other Hymenoptera, which are probably more preserved than remains of small diptera. However, in many earlier studies, analysis of faeces was successfully employed to determine the food composition in hirundines [25][26][27][28]. According to Poulsen and Aebischer [29], analysis of faeces yields a reliable picture of diet in the case of insectivorous birds.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It cannot be excluded, however, that faeces of adult birds may have been taken for analysis, a possibility suggested by some authors [27,28]. The faeces collected were kept in a freezer at -20ºC.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In earlier studies, analysis of faeces was successfully employed to determine the food composition in hirundines [25][26][27][28]. This method yields a reliable picture of diet in the case of insectivorous birds; the differences obtained by the two methods is used to establish the proportions in a diet of different taxonomical groups of insects, e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Diet of nestling Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica in rural areas of Poland

Orłowski

Karg

2011

Open Life Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Analysis of faecal sacs of nestling Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica from 52 breeding colonies located within fifteen spatially-separated villages in Poland has revealed that the basic component of the diet was Coleoptera (56.1% of all identified prey items), followed by Hymenoptera (24.1%), Diptera (16.1%) and Hemiptera (3.3%). The average mass of all prey items with known weight amounted to 3.40 mg (95% CL, 3.16–3.63 mg; median=0.49 mg) dry weight. Coleopterans associated with dung and manure jointly made up 23.5% of the number and 24.3% of the total biomass of all representatives of the order. Statistically significant negative relationships between the average weight of prey and number of prey found in 52 analyzed breeding sites suggest a particular need for Barn Swallows to find larger-bodied prey rather than to exploit the local abundance of smaller prey. The high percentage of Coleoptera in the diet of nestling Barn Swallows probably results from extensive or traditional farm management based on rules of organic farming in agricultural areas of central Europe, mainly commonly used organic fertilizers, and suggests the importance of these insects as a more easily accessible and larger-bodied prey in comparison to some small Diptera or Hymenoptera. We believe that a large number of randomly collected faecal samples from tens of breeding sites allow us to precisely describe variation in the diet of the Barn Swallow. Our work has great importance for documenting of the food composition of the Barn Swallow in traditional European countrysides, i.e. under environmental and agricultural conditions which, as a result of transformations of the system of farming, ceased to exist in the western and northern part of this continent.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Diet of nestling Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica in rural areas of Poland

Orłowski

Karg

2011

Open Life Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…), with relatively low numbers for the rest of the day, while the Chironomidae tend to peak about 1-2 hours before sunset (Colyer 1951). These organisms are important food items of Swifts and hirundines (Bryant 1973, Waugh 1979, whose patterns of attendance may reflect the periodicity of their prey. Seasonal variations in insect emergence may well have more subtle effects on these birds as well.…”

Section: Diurnal Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diurnal variation in the numbers of birds feeding at a sewage works in summer

Crebbin

1983

Bird Study

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The ecological importance of wetlands for aerial insectivores (swifts, martins and swallows) along the Tyrrhenian coast

Arena¹,

Battisti²,

Carpaneto

2011

Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We studied phenology and density of migrant aerial insectivore birds (Riparia riparia, Hirundo rustica, Delichon urbicum, Apus sp.) from a coastal landscape mosaic of central Italy, in order to detect differences in habitat use and seasonal dynamics of each species. Two habitat types were surveyed: wetlands (a mosaic of reed beds and rush beds) and altered habitats, consisting of orchards and urban areas. We used the point count method from January to June, in a set of randomly selected sampling points. A comparison between all species showed that swifts reached the highest mean point density, while sand martin showed the lowest values, mainly in altered habitats. Initially, all the breeding species were numerous in wetlands; subsequently they shifted toward altered habitats (mainly used as breeding sites), where they were observed up to the end of the counts. Along the Tyrrhenian coast, wetlands are exploited as soon as these aerial foragers arrive in the study area and then shift to the surrounding altered (i.e., urbanized or land reclaimed) zones for nesting after some ten-days.

show abstract

The diet of Sand Martins during the breeding season

Cited by 19 publications

References 12 publications

Diet of nestling Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica in rural areas of Poland

Diet of nestling Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica in rural areas of Poland

Diurnal variation in the numbers of birds feeding at a sewage works in summer

The ecological importance of wetlands for aerial insectivores (swifts, martins and swallows) along the Tyrrhenian coast

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About