Biannual complete moult in the Black‐chested Prinia Prinia flavicans

Abstract

The Black‐chested Prinia Prinia flavicans shows two distinctive periods each year during which adult birds undergo a complete moult: there is a fast moult (about 67 days) in spring (September‐November) involving all birds simultaneously and a slower moult (about 108 days) in autumn (February‐June), when about 95% of adults are moulting during April. A biannual complete moult pattern was also shown to occur in individual birds. The pattern of secondary replacement was variable and unusual for a passerine; the majority replaced S8 to S5/S4 descendantly, or had feathers being renewed ascendantly amongst S4‐S7 before the ascendant series starting from the outermost secondary reached the middle secondaries. The descendant series tended to be longer during the autumn moult with S4 most frequently being the last to be replaced in autumn, but S5 last in spring. Breeding was erratic during summer in response to rains and sometimes overlapped extensively with moulting, the onset of which was less variably timed. When breeding occurred during the autumn moult, the new plumage was not the usual winter plumage (without the chest‐band), but a new summer plumage.