Abstract
The Cinereous Warbling-finch Poospiza cinerea is a globally vulnerable Emberizidae passerine, patchily distributed and rare in the open savannah of central South America. Attributes of rare species include niche specificity such as feeding habits. To verify possible niche specialization in this species we aimed to describe its foraging habits related to substrate use, foraging and substrate height, attack maneuvers, and consumed food items. We monitored two groups at two study sites and sampled foraging events with intervals of 15 minutes. The substrates used in greater frequency were foliage and reproductive organs. Foraging and substrate height varied widely with study area. The attack maneuver adopted in greater frequency was glean. Most food items attacked were small invertebrates. Big invertebrates included Lepidoptera, Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera and Orthoptera. Poospiza cinerea was also recorded foraging in mixed bird flocks with seven other species. The generalist foraging behavior of the species cannot be associate to its rarity.
Highlights
The Cinereous Warbling-Finch Poospiza cinerea Bonaparte 1850 is a Neotropical grassland passerine bird that belongs to the family Emberizidae and is currently threatened, assigned as vulnerable globally (BirdLife International, 2011)
Descriptive studies on this species autecology were absent until Wischhoff et al (2012) and Costa and Rodrigues (2013)
To verify possible niche specialization in this species we aimed to describe its foraging habits related to substrate use, foraging and substrate height, attack maneuvers behavior, and consumed food items
Summary
The Cinereous Warbling-Finch Poospiza cinerea Bonaparte 1850 is a Neotropical grassland passerine bird that belongs to the family Emberizidae and is currently threatened, assigned as vulnerable globally (BirdLife International, 2011). Descriptive studies on this species autecology were absent until Wischhoff et al (2012) and Costa and Rodrigues (2013). Poospiza cinerea occurs patchily in mountaintops ranging from 600 to 1,400 m (Ridgely and Tudor, 1989; Stotz et al, 1996; Lopes et al, 2010; Vasconcelos and Rodrigues, 2010) and is considered rare and endemic to the Cerrado (Silva, 1997), a savannahlike biome regarded as a biodiversity hotspot (Oliveira and Marquis, 2002). Since tropical grasslands are being lost at an alarming rate due to losses from agriculture and urban.
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More From: Brazilian journal of biology = Revista brasleira de biologia
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