Mixed-species foraging flock

Black-headed gulls, bar-tailed godwits and sanderlings foraging on a beach

A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging.[1] These are different from feeding aggregations, which are congregations of several species of bird at areas of high food availability.

While it is currently unknown how mixed-species foraging flocks originate, researchers have proposed a few mechanisms for their initiation. Many believe that nuclear species play a vital role in mixed-species flock initiation.[2] Additionally, the forest structure is hypothesized to play a vital role in these flocks' formation.[3] In Sri Lanka, for example, vocal mimicry by the greater racket-tailed drongo might have a key role in the initiation of mixed-species foraging flocks,[4] while in parts of the American tropics packs of foraging golden-crowned warblers might play the same role.[5]

  1. ^ Graves, G. R.; Gotelli, N. J. (15 February 1993). "Assembly of avian mixed-species flocks in Amazonia" (PDF). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 90 (4): 1388–1391. Bibcode:1993PNAS...90.1388G. doi:10.1073/pnas.90.4.1388. ISSN 0027-8424. JSTOR 2361195. PMC 45878. PMID 8433996.
  2. ^ Moynihan, M. (1962). The organization and probable evolution of some mixed species flocks of neotropical birds. The Smithsonian Institution. OCLC 432686637.
  3. ^ Sridhar, Hari; Sankar, K. (January 2008). "Effects of Habitat Degradation on Mixed-Species Bird Flocks in Indian Rain Forests". Journal of Tropical Ecology. 24 (2): 135–147. doi:10.1017/S0266467408004823. ISSN 0266-4674. JSTOR 25172907. S2CID 86835417. Closed access icon
  4. ^ Goodale, Eben; Kotagama, Sarath W. (August 2006). "Vocal mimicry by a passerine bird attracts other species involved in mixed-species flocks" [Mixed flocks of birds in Atlantic Rain Forest in Serra de Paranapiacaba, southeastern Brazil] (PDF). Animal Behaviour (in Portuguese). 72 (2): 471–477. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2006.02.004. ISSN 0003-3472. S2CID 53148848.
  5. ^ Machado, C. G. (February 1999). "A composição dos bandos mistos de aves na Mata Atlântica da Serra de Paranapiacaba, no sudeste brasileiro". Revista Brasileira de Biologia [Brazilian Journal of Biology]. 59 (1): 75–85. doi:10.1590/S0034-71081999000100010. ISSN 0034-7108.