Annual cycles of hummingbirds (Aves: Trochilidae) at a humid forest, Henri Pittier National Park, Venezuela

Authors

  • Cristina Malpica Sociedad Conservacionista Audubon de Venezuela Author
  • Cristina Sainz-Borgo Universidad Simón Bolívar Author
  • Sainz-Borgo Ayala Universidad de Los Andes Author
  • Miguel Lentino Fundacion W.H. Phelps Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15517/rbt.v68i1.32448

Keywords:

Trochilidae, communities, abundance, Portachuelo

Abstract

Portachuelo Pass is an open area used by a great diversity of bird species, either as residents or for seasonal or migratory movements, reporting 32 species of hummingbirds in the Trochilidae family. Due to this, our goal was evaluating the hummingbird assemblage dynamics in Portachuelo Pass, analyzing the abundance of the captures over four years of sampling and comparing these data with samples taken between 1990 and 2013. Monthly field trips were made from April 1990 to November 1994, and from June 2010 to November 2013, between 5 and 8 mist-nets were used to catch the birds. 14 685 individuals were captured, belonging to 25 species. The relative abundance per species was estimated in each of the sampling months, separating the community into four groups: A) Hummingbirds with high abundances, B) Hummingbirds with low abundances, C) Hummingbirds rare and D) Phaethornithinae. The species with the highest abundance populations were: Heliodoxa leadbeateri and Sternoclyta cyanopectus, followed by Aglaiocercus kingi, Chalybura buffoni, Chrysuronia oenone and Coeligena coeligena. For the rest of the species the densities in the mist-net captures were from low to medium. Based on the results obtained, the community of hummingbirds in the area of Portachuelo can be divided into: six highly abundant species that are observed throughout all or most of the year, seven species that use the passage during most of the year but with low densities, four species that use the area in a seasonal manner and seven rare species in the catches due to the type of sampling, or that do not present displacement movements and prefer other habitats. Statistically significant differences were found between the abundance of hummingbirds of sampling years, being the year with the highest abundance 1991, followed by 2013.

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Author Biographies

  • Cristina Malpica, Sociedad Conservacionista Audubon de Venezuela
    Investigadora
  • Cristina Sainz-Borgo, Universidad Simón Bolívar

    Departamento de Biologìa de Organismos, Profesor Asociado

  • Sainz-Borgo Ayala, Universidad de Los Andes
    Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Ecológicas. Facultad de Ciencias. Estudiante de doctorado
  • Miguel Lentino, Fundacion W.H. Phelps
    Colecciòn Ornitológica Phelps, Director Científico

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Published

2020-03-31