Journal Article

Reproductive biology of Grey-breasted Wood-Wren (Henicorhina leucophrys): A comparative study of tropical and temperate wrens/Biologia reproductiva de Henicorhina leucophrys: un estudio comparative de cucaracheros tropicales y templados

Arslan, Necmiye Sahin, Martin, Thomas E

2019

Overview

We provide a detailed breeding biology account for the Grey-breasted Wood-Wren (Henicorhina leucophrys) and a comparison of the reproductive life history of tropical and temperate wrens using literature data. We conducted this study at Yacambu National Park in Venezuela from 2002 to 2008. Clutch size was 1.99 (SE 0.01) and fresh egg mass was 2.35 g (0.02). Females incubated the eggs for 19.74 d (0.37), and nestlings left nests at 17.37 d (0.18). Nest attentiveness (percent time spent on the nest) increased across the incubation period while brooding attentiveness decreased as nestlings aged. Brooding effort began with similar attentiveness as at the end of incubation. Food provisioning rate and feeding rate per nestling increased as nestlings aged. Growth rates (K) based on mass, tarsus, and wing chord were relatively slow at 0.375, 0.246, and 0.257, respectively. The nesting season extended from mid-March to late June for 7 years and the average nesting season length was 64.5 d (3.68) with a median of May 4. Nest success was 22%. Nest predation was the cause of 77% of nest failures with a total daily predation rate of 0.030 (0.002). Results obtained from the literature demonstrated that tropical wrens averaged smaller clutch sizes and longer incubation periods than relatives in the temperate region. Received 17 October 2017. Accepted 9 November 2018.

• Publisher: Wilson Ornithological Society
• Subject: Animal parental behavior / Animal parental behaviour / Comparative literature / Eggs (Food) / Gray-breasted wood wren / National parks / Ornithological research / Parental behavior in animals / Parks / Predation (Biology)