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How birds age? Chilean Elaenia as an example for the Neotropical bird species

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Abstract

Determining the age of birds is important to understand the demographic dynamic, since the effects of mortality factors may depend on the age of the individuals. Several methods have been used to determine the age of many European and North American bird species, but little is known about aging in Neotropical birds. The aim of our research was to evaluate the method for aging Chilean Elaenia (Elaenia chilensis) through individuals of known age. We used the palate color and feather molt limits of individuals of known age, together with the previously available proposals for aging this species to propose a new criterion for determining the age of Chilean Elaenias. Our criterion makes possible to differentiate adult individuals in the first, second, and third year since their born. We consider that our proposal will allow to advance towards more detailed research on the population dynamics of bird species in South America.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Roberts family for allowing us to work at Cañadón Florido. We thank G. Cabanne and anonymous reviewers for numerous comments that improved the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by the National Geographic Society (USA), the Bergstrom Award of the Association of Field Ornithologists (USA), and the François Vuilleumier Fund of the Neotropical Ornithological Society (USA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagónica (CIEMEP), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) y Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco, Roca 780, U9200, Esquel, Chubut, Argentina

    Cristian A. Gorosito & Víctor R. Cueto

  2. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, Santa Rosa, La Pampa, Argentina

    Joaquín Cereghetti

Authors
  1. Cristian A. Gorosito
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  2. Joaquín Cereghetti
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  3. Víctor R. Cueto
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Víctor R. Cueto.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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The authors declare that they consent to participate in the research and the publication of the results.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

Ethical and technical evaluation was done by Dirección de Fauna y Flora Silvestre, Ministerio de Desarrollo Territorial y Sectores Productivos de la Provincia del Chubut, Argentina.

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Communicated by: Leandro Bugoni.

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Gorosito, C.A., Cereghetti, J. & Cueto, V.R. How birds age? Chilean Elaenia as an example for the Neotropical bird species. Ornithol. Res. 28, 133–137 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43388-020-00012-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43388-020-00012-3

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