Search results for "Tree trunk"

Risk of predation and foraging sites of individuals in mixed-species tit flocks

1993

Abstract Abstract. Foraging sites of individual willow tits, Parus montanus, and crested tits, P. cristatus, on spruce were studied in a winter when the risk of predation from pygmy owls, Glaucidium passerinum, was high and in a winter when it was low. Mixed-species flocks consisted of two crested tits (a pair) and three to six willow tits. The risk of predation from owls is likely to be highest on the most exterior tree parts. Female crested tits foraged further out on the branches than other individuals when predation risk was low, but foraged in the safer sites close to the tree trunk when the risk was high. Male crested tits retained both their relative distance to the trunk and their r…