Harold F. Greeney

THE NEST, NESTING BEHAVIOR, AND FORAGING ECOLOGY OF THE RUSTY-WINGED BARBTAIL (PREMNORNIS GUTTULIGERA)

Abstract We discovered and monitored a nest of the Rusty-winged Barbtail (Premnornis guttuligera) on the eastern slope of the Andes in Napo Province, Ecuador. The nest, in a hollow Cyathea tree-fern snag, was a deep cup composed entirely of Cyathea tree-fern petiole scales (ramenta). A single nestling fledged successfully on 13 March 2002. During the latter half of the nestling period, adults visited the nest with food a mean of 4.7 ± 1.9 (SD) times/h and removed fecal sacs 2.2 ± 1.1 times/h. Nest visitation rates generally decreased throughout the day. Adult Rusty-winged Barbtails foraged by gleaning from or probing into suspended dead leaves or moss, often while hanging onto the substrate, and did not hitch up trunks or creep along branches. Nest structure, composition, and location, and foraging behavior all raise doubts about the taxonomic placement of Premnornis in the Margarornis treerunner-barbtail assemblage.

A Nest of the Marble-Faced Bristle Tyrant (Pogonotriccus ophthalmicus) with Comparative Comments on Nests of Related Genera

Abstract Pogonotriccus bristle tyrants are a small group of flycatchers for which few data on nest architecture are available. I describe the nest of Marble-faced Bristle Tyrant (P. ophthalmicus) from eastern Ecuador. The nest was an oven-shaped, mossy ball with a hooded side entrance attached by the back to the trunk of a large tree. I discuss aspects of nest architecture, composition, and placement which may prove useful for resolving phylogenetic hypotheses within the Leptopogon-Pogonotriccus-Pseudotriccus clade of pipromorphine flycatchers. These characters, in particular nest attachment and construction, support a close relationship between Pogonotriccus, Pseudotriccus, and Corythopis. The switch from draping material to stuffing material during construction may be a key innovation uniting these genera.

The Spotted Barbtail (Premnoplex brunnescens): male and female parental effort during the nestling period

ABSTRACT We document male and female roles in nestling care of Spotted Barbtails (Premnoplex brunnescens) including feeding rates and temporal patterns of provisioning by each sex. Using 128.5 hrs of video from color marked and molecularly sexed individuals at two nests, we confirm that both sexes of Spotted Barbtail provision nestlings. Spotted Barbtail females in our study invested more heavily in nestling care than males, making 73% of feeding visits. Females also visited the nests nearly twice as often as males, averaging 1.24 visits/nestling/hr compared to 0.69 visits/nestling/hr for males. While Spotted Barbtails exhibit many of the features assumed to favor social and genetic monogamy, intriguing aspects of nest building and incubation leave open the possibility that this species is unusual among the Furnariidae and utilizes extra-pair matings as a part of the reproductive strategy.