Daily patterns of body mass gain in four species of small wintering birds

Abstract

Theoretically, the trajectories describing the daily accumulation of body reserves are expected to differ between bird species in relation to whether or not they hoard food. To carry reserves on the body may be costly and hoarding species can be expected to hoard food early in the day when light and retrieve it in the afternoon, with a concomitant rapid increase in body mass. Also, the increased food predictability resulting from being able to consume hoarded food late in the day should lead to a relatively faster gain in body reserves in the afternoon in hoarding species compared to non‐hoarders. Non‐hoarders may have to hedge against possible afternoon losses of foraging opportunities by accumulating more reserves early in the day. In this study the daily patterns of body mass gain in four small bird species resident during winter in Scandinavia are described. Individually known birds were trained to come to a permanent feeder and their body masses were recorded every hour throughout the day with a remote‐controlled balance. The hoarding willow tit Parus montanus, marsh tit P. palustris and European nuthatch Sitta europaea all displayed the most rapid gain in body mass in the early hours of the day. After the initial burst in the morning, reserves were accumulated at a roughly constant rate for the remainder of the day. In contrast, the non‐hoarding great tit P. major apparently gained body reserves at a more even rate. The daily pattern of body mass gain found in the hoarding species differs from prevailing theoretical predictions, whereas the pattern in the non‐hoarding great tit is in a better agreement with theory, from which this pattern has been predicted repeatedly.