Malnutrition during the postnuptial molt of White-crowned Sparrows: feather growth and quality

Abstract

It has often been alleged that avian molt can be interrupted or delayed by food deprivation or malnutrition. We examined this experimentally in captive White-crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii). Beginning either at the natural onset of postnuptial molt or 1 month before its onset, groups of birds were fed either inadequate amounts of a balanced diet (60 or 80% of the ad libitum intake of a control group) or unlimited amounts of a diet deficient only in cyst(e)ine and methionine. Except in the 60% premolt group, the malnourished birds did not postpone or interrupt molt in spite of losses ranging from 20 to 38% of initial body mass. Molt was significantly protracted in all except the 60% premolt group as a result of both increased shedding interval and decreased feather growth rates. Their new plumage weighed less than that of control birds, and their remiges were slightly shorter and often deformed or achromatic. The occurrence of fault bars corresponded to the times when the birds were handled, but was not correlated with other plumage defects. Surviving birds of the 60% premolt group did not molt until allowed to feed ad libitum, but then produced a normal plumage in about two-thirds of the time required by the controls. To summarize, molt is a very conservative aspect of self maintenance that is distorted only by planes of malnutrition that free-living sparrows either do not encounter during the summer or do not survive.