The Overlap of Molting and Breeding in Some Tropical Birds

Abstract

Studies of temperate and tropical land birds reveal that the resource-demanding activities of the life cycle generally are mutually exclusive in an individual (Miller 1963, Farner 1964, Fogden 1972). Presumably food (calories, specific organic or inorganic nutrients, or the time to gather them) is limiting, and temporal spacing has evolved in response to the high requirements of each event. Thus an activity is timed to occur when environmental conditions are favorable and when interference from other activities is minimal.