Ruddy Quail-Dove (Geotrygon montana) Science Article 1
abstract
We analyzed patterns of abundance of Ruddy Quail-Doves (Geotrygon montana)base on 12 years of mist-net data (457 captures) from terrajirme forest near Manausin central Amazonian Brazil. Unlike most understory birds at the study site, G. montanavaried greatly in abundance. Quail-doves disappeared for months and then reappeared,usually during the wet season. In some months they became one of the most frequentlynetted birds. Quail-doves avoided isolated forest fragments of one ha, although abundancedid not differ among fragments of 10 ha, 100 ha, and continuous forest. Peak abundancevaried among years, as did the timing of peak abundance. In general, the annual pattern ofquail-dove abundance was correlated with the annual rainfall pattern. Considering all 12years of data, however, quail-dove abundance during a given three-month period was notcorrelated with rainfall during that period, but with rainfall in the same period in the previous year. No quail-doves were recaptured more than a few weeks apart; thus individual birds did not return to the same site from year to year. Since quail-doves feed mainly on fallen fruit, these resultss uggesth at they may range over wide areast o exploit regional differences in fruit production.
PHILIP C. STOUFFER AND RICHARD 0. BIERREGAARD, Jr, The Condor 95:896-903