《seed-eating birds》.pdfVIP

Journal of Animal Blackwell Science, Ltd Ecology 2001 Seed-crop size and eruptions of North American boreal 70, 609–620 seed-eating birds WALTER D. KOENIG* and JOHANNES M. H. KNOPS? *Hastings Reservation, University of California, Berkeley, 38601 E. Carmel Valley Road, Carmel Valley, California 93924, USA; and ?School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, 348 Manter Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588–0118, USA Summary 1. Eruptions occur when a species appears in unusually high densities within and often outside of its normal range. We used 30 years of Christmas Bird Counts combined with cone/seed-crop data on boreal coniferous trees, breeding bird surveys, and weather records to test correlates of winter eruptions by 11 species of primarily boreal North American seed-eating birds. 2. Eruptions of six species in eastern red-breasted nuthatch Sitta canadensis L., black- capped chickadee Parus atricapillus L., evening grosbeak Hesperiphona vespertina Cooper, pine grosbeak Pinicola enucleator L., red crossbill Loxia curvirostra L. and bohemian waxwing Bombycilla garrulus L. and ?ve species in western North America pine grosbeak, pine siskin Carduelis pinus Wilson, evening grosbeak, bohemian waxwing and red-breasted nuthatch correlated with a combination of large coniferous seed crops in the previous year followed by a poor crop. Breeding population size in the year of the eruption was also correlated positively with the event in two of the species. Eruptions in these species apparently occur when large boreal seed crops resulting in high population densities via high overwinter survivorship and/or high reproductive success are confronted with a relatively poor seed crop the next autumn. 3. Eruptions of common redpolls Carduelis ?ammea L. and black-capped chickadees in the west followed only large seed crops the previous year, suggesting that high density is a more important factor leading to eruptions than seed crop failure. The opposite was true