RECORDS OF MOBBING BEHAVIOR IN VENEZUELAN WILD BIRDS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58843/ornneo.v34i1.977Keywords:
Animal defense, anti-predatory behavior, bird behavior, David and Goliath battleAbstract
Mobbing is a survival strategy in which birds attack enemies to drive them from the vicinity. This paper reports mobbing behavior events among wild bird species of Venezuela. A total of 31 species from 15 families were recorded in 130 mobbing events. Individual mobbing was the widespread strategy, recorded in 24 species (77%) and 82 mobbing events (63%). Birds tended to mob individually when the enemy was flying but they inclined to do so in groups when the enemy was perched (χ2 =18.191, p<0.05). However, 16 species (52%) required additional assistance of conspecifics, and only three species (10%) were assisted by non-conspecific allies. Anti-predatory was the widespread function, recorded in 27 species (87%) and 106 mobbing events (82%). 22 species (71%) mobbed one bird of prey at least, and 79 mobbing events (61%) were against typical raptor-shaped birds. But mobbing also was performed for other purposes: six species (19%) mobbed for food resource protection in 17 mobbing events (13%) while other four species (13%) mobbed for site defense in five events (4%). Mobbing behavior was recorded at breeding time in 16 species (53%), and 75 mobbing events (58%) occurred at that period. Seven mobber species (23%) were also mobbed. Most mobbing events (98%) were initiated by the weaker species. Highly significant differences were found in body size (W: 4471.0; p>0.01) and body mass (W: 4452.5; p>0.01) between the mobber and mobbed species. In general, a mobber bird engaged in mobbing with other birds of same body size and body mass up to 5.6 times larger and 117.5 heavier. Only the Roadside Hawk Rupornis magnirostris and the Tropical Kingbird Tyrannus melancholichus were exposed to true danger when they mobbed the Great Black-Hawk Buteogallus anthracinus. Recorded information improves the repository of available knowledge in Venezuela and the Neotropical region.References
Altmann, SA (1956) Avian mobbing behavior and predator recognition. Condor 58: 241–253. https://doi.org/10.2307/1364703 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1364703
Arnold, KE (2000) Group mobbing behavior and nest defense in cooperatively breeding Australian bird. Ethology 106: 385–393. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1439-0310.2000.00545.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1439-0310.2000.00545.x
Broun, M (1947) Golden Eagle captures Red-shouldered Hawk. Auk 64: 317–318. https://doi.org/10.2307/4080573 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/4080573
Burton, R (1985) Bird behavior. Alfred A Knopf, New York, New York, United States.
Caro, TM (2005) Antipredator defense in birds and mammals. The Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Castro-Siqueira, L (2010) Observation of mobbing toward a Common Potoo (Nyctibius griseus). Boletín SAO 20: 1–4.
Cherrie, GK (1916) A contribution to the ornithology of the Orinoco region. Science Bulletin of the Museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences 2: 133–374. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.13412 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.20610
Cornell Lab of Ornithology (2009) All About Birds. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Available at https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/sometimes-i-see-little-birds-going-after-a-big-bird-why-do-they-do-this/ [Accessed 10 October 2019]
Cortés-Suárez, JE (2021) Mobbing behavior of the Yellow-headed Caracara (Milvago chimachima) against the Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) in the dry forest of the Municipality of Villa de Leyva, Departament of Boyacá, Colombia. Spizaetus 32: 4–8.
Cresswell, R (1878) Aristotle’s History of Animal in Ten Books. George Bell & Son, Covent Garden, London, UK. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.21698
Cunha, FC (2017) Sex, cooperation, and deception: anti-predatory behavior beyond avoiding death. Ph. D. thesis, Univ. of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Cunha, FC, JC Rodrigues-Fontelle & M Griesser (2017) The presence of conespecific females influence male-mobbing behavior. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 71: 52. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-017-2267-7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-017-2267-7
Curio, E, U Ernst & W Vieth (1978) Cultural transmission of enemy recognition: one function of mobbing. Science 202: 899–901. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.202.4370.899 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.202.4370.899
De la Ossa, J, A De la Ossa-Lacayo & D Montes (2018) Ethological annota-tions of Milvago chimachima, Vieillot, 1816 (Aves: Falconidae). Revista MVZ Córdoba 23: 6514–6522. https://doi.org/10.21897/rmvz.1246 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21897/rmvz.1246
Deery de Phelps, K (1955) Aves Venezolanas: Cien de las más conocidas. Creole Petroleum Corporation, Caracas, Venezuela.
Denson, RD (1979) Owl predation on a mobbing crow. Wilson Bulletin 91: 133–135. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4161178.
Dow, DD (1975) Displays of the honeyeater Manorina melanocephala. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie 38: 70–96. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1975.tb01993.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1975.tb01993.x
Dow, DD (1977) Indiscriminate interspecific aggression leading to almost sole occupancy of space by a single species of bird. Emu 77: 115–121. https://doi.org/10.1071/MU9770115 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1071/MU9770115
Dunning, JB (2008) CRC Handbook of avian body masses. 2nd ed. CRC Press, Boca Raton, United States. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1201/9781420064452
Dutour, M, JP Léna & T Lengagne (2016) Mobbing behavior varies according to predator dangerousness and occurrence. Animal Behavior 119: 119–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.06.024 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.06.024
Dutour, M, JP Lena & T Lengagne (2017) Mobbing behavior in a passerine community increases with prevalence in predator diet. Ibis 159: 324–330. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12461 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12461
Dutour, M, Cordonnier M, JP Lena & T Lengagne (2019) Seasonal variation in mobbing behavior of passerine birds. Journal of Ornithology: 160: 509–514. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-019-01630-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-019-01630-5
Fallow, PM, BJ Pitcher & RD Magrath (2013) Alarming features: birds use specific acoustic properties to identify heterospecific alarm calls. Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences) 280: 20122539. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2539 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2539
Fitzpatrick, JW (2004) Family Tyrannidae (Tyrant-Flycatcher). Pp. 170–463 in del Hoyo, J., Elliot, A & Christie DA (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 9: Cotingas to Pipits and Wagtails. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.
Flasskamp, A (1994) The adaptive significance of avian mobbing V. An experimental test of the ‘Move On’ hypothesis. Ethology 96: 322–333. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1994.tb01020.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1994.tb01020.x
Gill, FB (1987) Ecological fitting: use of floral nectar in Heliconia stilesii Daniels by three species of hermit hummingbirds. Condor 89: 779–787. https://doi.org/10.2307/1368525 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1368525
Gill, SA & AMK Bierema (2013) On the meaning of alarm calls: a review of functional reference in avian alarm calling. Ethology 119: 449–461. https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.12097 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.12097
Gilman, TT, FL Marcuse & AU Moore (1950) Animal hypnosis: a study in the induction of tonic immobility in chickens. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 43: 99–111. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0053659 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/h0053659
Gloag, R, VD Fiorini, JC Reboreda & A Kacelnik (2013) The wages of violence: mobbing by mockingbirds as a frontline defence against brood-parasitic cowbirds. Animal Behaviour 86: 1023–1029. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.09.007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.09.007
Graw, B & MB Manser (2007). The function of mobbing in cooperative meerkats. Animal Behaviour 74: 507–517. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2006.11.021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2006.11.021
Hammer, Ø, DAT Harper & PD Ryan (2001) PAST: Paleontological statistics software package for education and data analysis. Palaeontologia Electronica 4: 1–9.
Hartley, PHT (1950) An experimental analysis of interspecific recognition. Symposia of the Society for Experimental Biology 4: 313–336.
Hernández, O (2013) Cooperative mobbing of three passerines species on Red Squirrel (Sciurus granatensis) (Rodentia, Sciuridae). Revista Colombiana de Ciencia Animal 5: 154–157. https://doi.org/10.24188/recia.v5.n1.2013.480 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24188/recia.v5.n1.2013.480
Hilty, SL (2003) Birds of Venezuela. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey, United States.
Hua, F & KE Sieving (2016) Understory avifauna exhibits altered mobbing behavior in tropical forest degraded by selective logging. Oecologia 182: 743–754. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-016-3695-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-016-3695-1
Hurd, CR (1996) Interspecific attraction to the mobbing calls of Black-capped chickadees (Parus atricapillus). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 38: 287–292. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002650050244 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002650050244
Isler, ML & PR Isler (1999) The Tanagers: Natural History, Distribution, and Identification. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C., United States.
Jaramillo, A & P Burke (1999) New World Blackbirds: The Icterids. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey, United States.
Kaufman, K (2020) Guide to North American Birds: House Wren Troglodytes aedon. National Audubon Society. Available at https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/house-wren [Accessed 15 January 2020].
Krams, I & T Krama (2002) Interspecific reciprocity explains mobbing behaviour of the breeding chaffinches, Fringilla coelebs. Proccedings of the Royal Society of London B 269: 2345–2350. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2002.2155 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2002.2155
Krams, I, T Krama, K Igaune & R Mand (2008) Experimental evidence of reciprocal altruism in the Pied Flycatcher. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 62: 599–605. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0484-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0484-1
Lima, HS, FMG Las‐Casas, JR Ribeiro, T Gonçalves‐Souza & LN Naka (2018) Ecological and phylogenetic predictors of mobbing behavior in a tropical dry forest. Ecology and Evolution 8: 12615–12628. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4683 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4683
Machado-Stredel, F, AMF Fernandes, F Riera, R Gianni, A Rodríguez-Ferraro & JL Pérez-Emán (2019) Monitoreo del Conoto Negro Psarocolius decumanus en un ecosistema urbano: una iniciativa de ciencia ciudadana en Caracas, Venezuela. Revista Venezolana de Ornitología 9: 4–14.
Magrath, RD, BJ Pitcher & JL Gardner (2007) A mutual understanding? Interspecific responses by birds to each other's aerial alarm calls. Behavioral Ecology 18: 944–951. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arm063 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arm063
Mayntz, M (2019) Hummingbird behavior and aggression. Available at https://www.thespruce.com/hummingbird-behavior-and-aggression-386447 [Accessed 02 October 2019]
Meyer de Schauensee, R & WH Phelps Jr (1978) A guide to the birds of Venezuela. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey, United States.
Motta-Junior, JC (2007) Ferruginous Pygmy-owl (Glaucidium brasilianum) predation on a mobbing Fork-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus savana) in south-east Brazil. Biota Neotropica 7: 321–324. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1676-06032007000200038 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/S1676-06032007000200038
Pavey, CR & AK Smyth (1998) Effects of avian mobbing on roost use and diet of Powerful Owls, Ninox strenua. Animal Behaviour 55: 313–318. https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.1997.0633 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.1997.0633
Potvin, DA, CP Ratnayake, AN Radford & RD Magrath (2018) Birds learn socially to recognize heterospecific alarm calls by acoustic association. Current Biology 28: 2632–2637. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.06.013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.06.013
Reidy, JL (2009). Nest predators of Lance‐tailed Manakins on Isla Boca Brava, Panamá. Journal of Field Ornithology 80: 115–118. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1557-9263.2009.00199.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1557-9263.2009.00199.x
Restall, R, C Rodner & M Lentino (2006) Birds of northern South America. Volume 2: an identification guide. Christopher Helm, London, UK.
Robertson, RJ & RF Norman (1976) Behavioral defenses to brood parasitism by potential hosts of the Brown-headed Cowbird. Condor 78: 166–173. https://doi.org/10.2307/1366851 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1366851
Robinson, W & CW Richmond (1895) An annotated list of birds collected in the vicinity of La Guaira, Venezuela. Proceedings of the U.S. Natio-nal Museum 24: 163–178. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00963801.1247.163 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00963801.1247.163
Rodríguez-Ferraro, A (2006) Notes on the behavior of the Olive Oropendola (Psarocolius yuracares) during the breeding season. Ornitologia Neotropical 17: 57–62.
RSPB (2019) What is mobbing? The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Available at https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/birdwatching/bird-behaviour/what-is-mobbing/ [Accessed 10 October 2019]
Sainz-Borgo, C (2016) Registro de dos eventos de mobbing en zonas urbanas de la ciudad de Caracas (Venezuela). Revista de la Univesidad del Zulia 18: 69–73.
Sandoval, L & DR Wilson (2012) Local predation pressure predicts the strength of mobbing responses in tropical birds. Current Zoology 58: 781–790. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/czoolo/58.5.781 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/czoolo/58.5.781
Schuchmann, KL (1999) Family Trochilidae (Hummingbirds). Pp. 468–682 in del Hoyo, J., Elliot, A & Christie DA (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 5: Barn-owls to Hummingbirds. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.
Shedd, DH (1983) Seasonal variation in mobbing intensity in the Black-capped Chickadee. Wilson Bulletin 95: 343–348. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4161780
Shields, WM (1984) Barn Swallow mobbing: self-defense, collateral kin defense, group defense, or parental care? Animal Behaviour 32: 132–138. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0003-3472(84)80331-0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-3472(84)80331-0
Sick, H (1993) Birds in Brazil: a natural history. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey, United States.
Smith, P (2006) Interspecific aggression in nesting Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus) in Paraguay. Boletín SAO 16: 67–70.
Smith, JM & HB Graves (1978) Some factors influencing mobbing behavior in Barn swallows (Hirundo rustica). Behavioral Biology 23: 355–372. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0091-6773(78)91379-2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0091-6773(78)91379-2
Sordahl, TA (1990) The risks of avian mobbing and distraction behavior: an anecdotal review. Wilson Bulletin 102: 349–352.
Sternalski, A & V Bretagnolle (2010) Experimental evidence of specialised phenotypic roles in a mobbing raptor. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 64: 1351–1361. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-0950-z DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-0950-z
Stiles, FG (1985) Seasonal patterns and coevolution in the hummingbird-flower community of a Costa Rican subtropical forest. Ornithological Monographs 36: 757–787. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/40168315 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/40168315
Terife, C & M Lentino (2018) Registros anuales del Halcón Peregrino Falco peregrinus en la ciudad de Caracas, con algunas notas sobre su ecología y dieta. Revista Venezolana de Ornitología 8: 69–73.
Terife, C & M Lentino (2019) Registros anuales del Halcón Migratorio Falco columbarius en un ambiente urbano (Caracas), con algunas notas sobre su ecología y dieta. Revista Venezolana de Ornitología 9: 37–41.
Tilgar, V & K Moks (2015) Increased risk of predation increases mobbing intensity in tropical birds of French Guiana. Journal of Tropical Ecology 31: 243–250. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0266467415000061 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266467415000061
Tyrrell, EQ & RA Tyrrell (1985) Hummingbirds: their life and behavior. Crown Publisher, New York, United States.
Verea, C, A Solórzano & A Fernández-Badillo (1999) Pesos y distribución de aves del sotobosque del Parque Nacional Henri Pittier en el norte de Venezuela. Ornitologia Neotropical 10: 217–231.
Verea, C, N Espósito & M Lentino (2016) Paraulatas de Venezuela. Universidad Central de Venezuela and Fundación W. H. Phelps, Maracay and Caracas, Venezuela.
Welbergen, JA & NB Davies (2009). Strategic variation in mobbing as a front line of defense against brood parasitism. Current Biology 19: 235–240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2008.12.041 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2008.12.041
Wezel, P & C Verea (2012) Aves en Venezuela. 2nd ed. Intenso Offset, Caracas, Venezuela
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Ornitología Neotropical
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), that allows others unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction, providing the original author and source are credited.
