Overlap of Breeding and Molting Schedules in a Collection of African Birds

Abstract

Many birds in northern temperate regions are known to have distinct and separate times of the year for breeding and for molt, but little information is available for tropical birds. Miller (1961) found a separation of molt and breeding in tropical Zonotrichia capensis, and he also described an inverse correlation in time between nesting activity and molt in an equatorial South American cloud forest (Miller 1963). Moreau (1936, 1950) reported overlap of molt and gonadal activity in less than 10 per cent of a sample of birds collected in equatorial Africa. Exceptions noted by Moreau were Colius striatus among the nonpasserines and Turdoides jardinei among the songbirds. These species had large gonads both in the breeding season and at the time of molt. In none of these studies was each of the instances of overlapping schedules discussed.