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ARTHROPOD FOOD OF SOME FOREST-INHABITING BIRDS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

Imre S. Otvos  and
R.W. Stark
Imre S. Otvos
Affiliation:
Canadian Forestry Service, Pacific Forest Research Centre, 506 W. Burnside Road, Victoria, BC, Canada V8Z 1M5
R.W. Stark
Affiliation:
Department of Forest Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA 83843
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Abstract

The diets of 25 species of forest-inhabiting birds were examined in California from 1962 to 1968. Coleoptera and Hymenoptera comprised the bulk of the diets. Coleopterans were, in decreasing amounts, the most common food of the three-toed woodpecker, Steller's jay, American robin, brown creeper, hairy woodpecker (both sexes), dark-eyed junco, downy woodpecker (both sexes), olive-sided flycatcher, western wood-pewee, and white-headed woodpecker (both sexes). Hymenopterans, mainly ants, were the most common food of the northern flicker, Williamson's sapsucker, red-breasted sapsucker, and acorn woodpecker. White-headed woodpecker (both sexes) also ate ponderosa-pine seeds in the fall. Hairy woodpecker (both sexes) fed on the seeds of ponderosa pine and sugar pine. Detailed estimates of foods consumed by item and volume from analyses of stomach contents of 241 specimens are presented.

Résumé

L'alimentation de 25 espèces d'oiseaux forestiers a été examinée de 1962 à 1968, en Californie. Elle est composée surtout de coléoptères et d'huménoptères. Ainsi, les coléoptères constituent la nourriture la plus courante des espèces suivantes, par ordre décroissant d'importance : pic à dos rayé, geai de Steller, merle d'Amérique, grimpereau brun, pic chevelu (mâle et femelle), junco ardoisé, pic mineur (mâle et femelle), moucherolle à côtés olive, pioui de l'Ouest et pic à tête blanche (mâle et femelle). Par ailleurs, le pic flamboyant, le pic de Williamson, le pic à poitrine rouge et le pic des chênes se nourissent le plus souvent d'hyménoptères, principalement de fourmis. Le pic à tête blanche (mâle et femelle) consomme également des graines de pin ponderosa à l'automne. Le pic chevelu (mâle et femelle) se nourrit aussi de graines de pin ponderosa et, en outre, de celles du pin de Lambert. Des estimations détaillées de la nourriture consommée, par type et par volume, obtenues par analyses des contenus stomacaux de 241 oiseaux sont présentées

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 117 , Issue 8 , August 1985 , pp. 971 - 990
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1985

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