Category: Eurasia

Seasonal variation in bill morphology of Nuthatches Sitta europaea dietary adaptations or consequences?

Wood Nuthatch (Sitta europaea) Science Article 3 abstract Bills of juvenile Nuthatches continue to increase in size (length and depth) for up to three months after fledging. Bills of individual full-grown birds increase in length from April to October with a temporary drop in June, and decrease throughout the winter season. Bill depth increases from […]

Extra-pair young despite strong pair bonds in theEuropean Nuthatch ( Sitta europaea)

Wood Nuthatch (Sitta europaea) Science Article 2 abstract We choose the European Nuthatch (Sitta europaea), an extremely socially monogamous passerine species, to investigate the breeding biology and frequency of extra-pair activities of females. Breeding individuals live in strong pair bonds for their total life and defend their territory all year round. As a consequence of […]

Kinematics and mechanics of ground take-off in the starling Sturnis vulgaris and the quail Coturnix coturnix .

Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) Science Article 4 abstract The mechanics of avian take-off are central to hypotheses about flight evolution, but have not been quantified in terms of whole-body movements for any species. In this study, I use a combination of high-speed video analysis and force plate recording to measure the kinematics and mechanics of ground […]

Host responses against natural and experimental conspecific brood parasitism in the Starling Sturnus vulgaris.

Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) Science Article 15 abstract Intraspecific brood parasitism in the Starling Sturnus vulgaris was studied inCentralNorway. Before clutch initiation, Starlings recognise and remove parasitic conspecific eggs but are usually not able to do so after they have started to lay eggs themselves. The frequency of natural parasitism was 10%. Since ejection of the […]