Pattern of Wing Moult and Its Relationship to Breeding in the Eurasian Stone-Curlew Burhinus oedicnemus

[摘要] Thetiming,durationandpatternofthepoorlydocumentedwingmoultintheEurasianStone-curlewBurhinusoedicnemusweredescribedandrelatedtothebreedingcycle.Between1998and2007,141birdsweretrappedintheTaroRiverRegionalPark(Parma,Italy)bothwhileincubatingandduringthepost-breedingseason.ThetimingofprimarymoultwasestimatedaccordingtothemethodofUnderhillamp;Zucchini(1988)andUnderhilletal.(1990).Primarymoultwasveryslowandoverlappedmostofthebreedingseason,beginninginearlyMayandendinginOctober.Secondarymoultwasmuchmoreirregularandwasnotcompletedwithinasinglemoultcycle.Innermostandoutermostsecondariesweremorelikelytobeshedthanthoseatthecentreofthistract.Juvenilesecondarieswerenotshedduringthefirstwinter.ThestudyprovidesthefirstdetailedanalysisofwingmoultintheEurasianStone-curlewandsuggestssomeusefulageingcriteriabasedonthepatternofsecondarymoult.Theextensiveoverlapbetweenbreedingandmoultingisrelativelyuncommoncomparedtootherwaders.Thiscouldbeinterpretedasawaytomaximizebreedingsuccessthroughrenestingpotential(upto4attempts),i.e.byspreadingthecostofmoultoveraprolongedtimeperiod.Abetween-speciescomparisonusingindependentcontrastswasconsistentwiththishypothesis:specieswithaprolongedbreedingseasonalsoshowedconsiderableoverlapinthetimingofprimarymoultandbreedingactivities.

[学科分类] 动物科学

[关键词] Ageing Criterias