Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Interference asymmetries among age-sex classes of rufous hummingbirds during migratory stopovers

  • Published:
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Three age-sex classes of rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) overlap temporally and defend feeding territories during migratory stopovers in the Sierra Nevada of California. We demonstrate that these classes differ in their ability to secure and maintain high-quality feeding territories for refueling, and that these differences result in differences in resource use. Data on acquisition of territories, territory characteristics, and responses of territory owners to intruders suggest that several mechanisms are involved in determining dominance, involving sex- and age-related differences in wing disc loading, coloration, and experience. We discuss the implications of these results for understanding intraspecific variation in migration strategies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Brodsky LM (1988) Ornament size influences mating success in male rock ptarmigan. Anim Behav 36:662–667

    Google Scholar 

  • Calder WA III (1976) Energetics of small body size and high latitude: the rufous hummingbird in coastal Alaska. Int J Biometeorol 20:23–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Calder WA III (1987) Southbound through Colorado: migration of rufous hummingbirds. Natl Geogr Res 3:40–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Calvo B, Furness RW (1992) A review of the use and the effects of marks and devices on birds. Ring Migr 13:129–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter FL (1976) Plant-pollinator interactions in Hawaii: pollination energetics of Metrosideros collina (Myrtaceae). Ecology 57:1125–1144

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter FL (1983) Pollination energetics in avian communities: simple concepts and complex realities. In: Jones CE, Little RJ (eds) Handbook of experimental pollination biology. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, pp 215–234

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter FL (1987) Food abundance and territoriality: to defend or not to defend? Am Zool 27:387–399

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter FL, Paton DC, Hixon MA (1983) Weight gain and adjustment of feeding territory size in migrant hummingbirds. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 80:7259–7263

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter FL, Hixon MA, Paton DC, Temeles EJ, Russell RW (1991) Sexual differences in resource acquisition by migrant hummingbirds. Acta Congr Int Ornithol XX: 1156–1165

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter FL, Hixon MA, Beuchat CA, Russell RW, Paton DC (1993a) Biphasic mass gain in migrant hummingbirds: body composition changes, torpor, and ecological significance. Ecology 74:1173–1182

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter FL, Hixon MA, Temeles EJ, Russell RW, Paton DC (1993b) Exploitative compensation by subordinate age-sex classes of migrant rufous hummingbirds. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 33:305–312

    Google Scholar 

  • Cristol DA, Nolan V, Ketterson ED (1990) Effect of prior residence on dominance status of dark-eyed juncos, Junco hyemalis. Anim Behav 40:580–586

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies NB (1978) Territorial defence in the speckled wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria), the resident always wins. Anim Behav 26:138–147

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewald PW, Rohwer S (1980) Age, coloration and dominance in nonbreeding hummingbirds: a test of the asymmetry hypothesis. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 7:273–279

    Google Scholar 

  • Feinsinger P, Chaplin SB (1975) On the relationship between wing disc loading and foraging strategy in hummingbirds. Am Nat 109:217–224

    Google Scholar 

  • Feinsinger P, Colwell RK (1978) Community organization among neotropical nectar-feeding birds. Am Zool 18:779–795

    Google Scholar 

  • Feisinger P, Colwell RK, Terborgh J, Chaplin SB (1979) Elevation and the morphology, flight energetics, and foraging ecology of tropical hummingbirds. Am Nat 113:481–497

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleischer RC, Johnston RF (1984) The relationships between winter climate and selection on body size of house sparrows. Can J Zool 62:405–410

    Google Scholar 

  • Gass CL (1979) Territory regulation, tenure, and migration in rufous hummingbirds. Can J Zool 57:914–923

    Google Scholar 

  • Gauthreaux SA Jr (1978) The ecological significance of behavioral dominance. In: Bateson PPG, Klopfer PH (eds) Perspectives in ethology, vol 3. Plenum Press, New York, pp 17–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Gauthreaux SA Jr (1982) The ecology and evolution of avian migration systems. In: Farner DS, King JR, Parkes KC (eds) Avian biology, vol 6. Academic Press, New York, pp 93–168

    Google Scholar 

  • Glase JC (1973) Ecology of social organization in the black-capped chickadee. Living Bird 12:235–267

    Google Scholar 

  • Grant KA, Grant V (1967) Effects of hummingbird migration on plant speciation in the California flora. Evolution 21:457–465

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenewalt CH (1975) The flight of birds. Trans Am Philos Soc 65:1–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Grubb TC Jr, Woodrey MS (1990) Sex, age, intraspecific dominance status, and the use of food by birds wintering in temperate-deciduous and cold-coniferous woodlands: a review. Stud Avian Biol 13:270–279

    Google Scholar 

  • Haberman SJ (1977) Log-linear models and frequency tables with small expected cell counts. Ann Statist 5:1148–1169

    Google Scholar 

  • Hepp GR, Hair JD (1984) Dominance in wintering waterfowl (Anatini): effects on distribution of sexes. Condor 86:251–257

    Google Scholar 

  • Hixon MA, Carpenter FL (1988) Distinguishing energy maximizers from time minimizers: a comparative study of two hummingbird species. Am Zool 28:913–925

    Google Scholar 

  • Hixon MA, Carpenter FL, Paton DC (1983) Territory area, flower density, and time budgeting in hummingbirds: an experimental and theoretical analysis. Am Nat 122:366–391

    Google Scholar 

  • Hogstad O (1988) Rank-related resource access in winter flocks of willow tit Parus montanus. Ornis Scand 19:169–174

    Google Scholar 

  • Holberton RL, Hanano R, Able KP (1990) Age-related dominance in male dark-eyed juncos: effects of plumage and prior residence. Anim Behav 40:573–579

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunt WG, Rogers RR, Stowe DJ (1975) Migratory and foraging behavior of peregrine falcons on the Texas coast. Can Field-Nat 89:111–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnsgard PA (1983) The hummingbirds of North America. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Kodric-Brown A, Brown JH (1978) Influence of economics, interspecific competition, and sexual dimorphism on territoriality of migrant rufous hummingbirds. Ecology 59:285–296

    Google Scholar 

  • Koplin JR (1973) Differential habitat use by sexes of American kestrels wintering in northern California. Raptor Res 7:39–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Krebs JR (1982) Territorial defense in the great tit (Parus major): do residents always win? Behav Ecol Sociobiol 11: 185–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuban JF, Lawley J, Neill RL (1983) The partitioning of flowering century plants by black-chinned and Lucifer hummingbirds. Southwest Nat 28:143–148

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller RS (1967) Pattern and process in competition. Adv Ecol Res 4:1–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Milliken GA, Johnson DE (1984) Analysis of messy data. Vol 1: Designed experiments. Lifetime Learning Publications, Belmont

    Google Scholar 

  • Morse DH (1980) Behavioral mechanisms in ecology. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Murton RK, Isaacson AJ, Westwood NJ (1971) The significance of gregarious feeding behaviour and adrenal stress in a population of wood-pigeons Columba palumbus. J Zool 165: 53–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Ornat AL, Greenberg R (1990) Sexual segregation by habitat in migratory warblers in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Auk 107:539–543

    Google Scholar 

  • Paton DC, Carpenter FL (1984) Peripheral foraging by territorial rufous hummingbirds: defense by exploitation. Ecology 65:1808–1819

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters WD, Grubb TC Jr (1983) An experimental analysis of sex-specific foraging in the downy woodpecker, Picoides pubescens. Ecology 64:1437–1443

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips AR (1975) The migrations of Allen's and other hummingbirds. Condor 77:196–205

    Google Scholar 

  • Selander RK (1966) Sexual dimorphism and differential niche utilization in birds. Condor 68:113–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Snow DW, Snow BK (1980) Relationships between hummingbirds and flowers in the Andes of Colombia. Bull Br Mus Nat Hist (Zool) 38:105–139

    Google Scholar 

  • Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1981) Biometry, 2nd edn. Freeman, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiles FG (1972) Age and sex determination in rufous and Allen hummingbirds. Condor 74:25–32

    Google Scholar 

  • Temeles EJ (1986) Reversed sexual size dimorphism: effect on resource defense and foraging behaviors of nonbreeding northern harriers. Auk 103:70–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Weeden RB (1964) Spatial separation of sexes in rock and willow ptarmigan in winter. Auk 81:534–541

    Google Scholar 

  • Wunderle JM Jr (1991) Age-specific foraging proficiency in birds. In: Power DM (ed) Current ornithology, vol 8. Plenum Press, New York, pp 273–324

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, 92717, Irvine, CA, USA

    F. Lynn Carpenter & Robert W. Russell

  2. Department of Zoology, Oregon State University, 97331, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Mark A. Hixon

  3. Department of Zoology, University of Adelaide, GPO Box 498, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia

    David C. Paton

  4. National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution, 20008, Washington, DC, USA

    Ethan J. Temeles

Authors
  1. F. Lynn Carpenter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mark A. Hixon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Robert W. Russell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. David C. Paton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ethan J. Temeles
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Correspondence to: F.L. Carpenter

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Carpenter, F.L., Hixon, M.A., Russell, R.W. et al. Interference asymmetries among age-sex classes of rufous hummingbirds during migratory stopovers. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 33, 297–304 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00172927

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00172927

Key words

Search

Navigation