Summary
The phenology of fruit trees and avian consumption of fruit were examined in Wytham wood, Oxford in 1979–1980. Ripe fruit was available to and fed upon by birds from late August until early May. Observations made on a daily transect indicated that most of the fruit was eaten by tits and thrushes, but the two families differed in the seasonal consumption and species of fruit taken. Tits took fruits of Elder, Bramble, White Bryony, Honeysuckle, Black Bryony, and Woody Nightshade at the beginning of the season only, while thrushes consumed fruits of Elder, Bramble, Hawthorn, Sloe, Rose, and Ivy mainly in the middle and end of the season. Members of these two families also visited different habitat types following the consumption of fruit, probably effecting different patterns of dispersal. There was no correlation between feeding preferences and the abundance or profitabilities (as defined by Pyke et al. 1977) of fruits with respect to total nitrogen, total proteins, total carbohydrates, total fats, or kilocalories. It is concluded that other factors such as palatability or content of other nutrients may be important in determining the feeding preferences of different species of frugivorous birds.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen SE ed (1974) Chemical Analysis of Ecological Materials. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford
Collinge WE (1941) The food of the Blackbird in successive years. Ibis 5(14):610–613
Foster MS (1977) Ecological and nutritional effects of food scarcity on a tropical frugivorous bird and it's fruit source. Ecology 58(1): 73–85
Hartley RHT (1954) Wild fruits in the diet of British Thrushes. Brit Birds 47:97–107
Hulme FE (1907) Wild Fruits of the Countryside. Hutchinson and Co., London
Kare MR, Medway W (1959) Discrimination between carbohydrates by the fowl. Poult Sci 38:1119–26
Lack DW (1948) Notes on the ecology of the Robin. Ibis 90:252–279
Lohrl H (1958) Das Verhalten des Kleibers (Sitta europaea caesia Wolf) Z f Tierpsychologie Bd 15(2):191–252
Long HC (1924) Plants Poisonous to Livestock. University Press, Cambridge
McFarland LS, George H (1966) Preferences of selected grains by Geese. J Wild Manage 34:321–327
Newton I (1972) Finches. New Naturalist, William Collins and Sons Ltd, London
Pendergast BA, Boag DA (1971) Nutritional aspects of the diet of Spruce Grouse in Central Alberta. The Condor 73:437–443
Pyke GH, Pulliam HR, Charnov EI (1977) Optimal foraging: a selective review of theory and tests. Quart Rev Biol 52:137–154
Sherburne CA (1972) Effects of Seasonal Changes in the Abundance and Chemistry of the Fleshy Fruits of Northeastern Woody Shrubs and Patterns and Exploitation by Frugivorous Birds. Ph D thesis Cornell University
Thompson JN, Willson MF (1979) Evolution of temperate fruit/bird interactions: phenological strategies. Evolution 33(3):973–983
West GC, Meng MS (1968) Seasonal changes in body weight and fat and the relation of fatty acid composition to diet in the Willow Ptarmigan. Wilson Bull 80:426–441
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sorensen, A.E. Interactions between birds and fruit in a temperate woodland. Oecologia 50, 242–249 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00348046
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00348046