Breeding biology of the Black-capped Robin Heteromyias armiti compared with the Grey-headed Robin H. cinereifrons and other tropical-rainforest Australasian robins

Richard H. Donaghey, Donna J. Belder, Tony Baylis


Abstract

We studied the breeding biology of the mid-montane Black-capped Robin Heteromyias armiti(Petroicidae) in the Yopno Urawa Som Conservation Area, Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea, from 23 October to 6 December 2014. All three nests found were attended by a breeding pair. We watched one nest during the incubation stage for 12 hours. Clutch size was one. Female daylight incubation constancy was 77.5%, the mean duration of incubation on-bouts was 7.66 minutes and of off-bouts 2.32 minutes. The daily number of incubation bouts was 72, thus the mean number of visits by the female to the nest was six per hour. Feeding of the incubating female at the nest by the male was not observed. The nestling period was 22 days. The female brooded the nestling and delivered most of the meals to the nestling. Male care of the nestling was primarily delivering food to the female off the nest. Mean brooding constancy by the female was 57.7% for the whole nestling period. Mean number of food-delivery trips by the female over the entire nestling period was 4.4/hour, and the mean number of nest visits by both the male and female was 9.3/hour. The high nest success coupled with the high nest-visitation rates during the nestling period suggests that the risk of nest predation is low. Peak nestling growth (to 84–85% of adult weight) occurred at 19 days of age. By comparing reproductive traits in the congeneric Grey-headed Robin H. cinereifrons and other tropical-rainforest Australasian robins the reproductive strategy of the Black-capped Robin appears to have evolved more in response to food availability than to a high risk of nest predation.

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