Multiple nesting attempts and long breeding seasons of Mimus gilvus (Aves: Mimidae) in southeastern Brazil

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Abstract

ABSTRACT This study describes aspects of the life history of the Tropical Mockingbird Mimus gilvus (Vieillot, 1808), including the breeding period, clutch size, nestlings and a list of plants used for nesting. Nests were monitored in an area of Restinga (sand-coastal plain) habitat in a protected area in southeastern Brazil. The data from 181 nests during five breeding seasons (2010-2014) showed that the Tropical Mockingbird has a long breeding season (26.1 ± 2.6 weeks) with up to two peaks of active nests from August to March. The breeding pairs made up to four nesting attempts in the same breeding season. The mean (± SD) clutch size was 2.4 ± 0.6 eggs (n = 169). The mean (± SD) incubation period was 14 ± 0.6 days, and the nestling remained in the nest for 14.5 ± 2.2 days. The nests were built on thirty plant species, and Protium icicariba (DC.) Marchand. was the plant species most commonly used for nesting. The breeding parameters of the Tropical Mockingbird are similar to those of other Mimidae species. The knowledge gained from this study makes the Tropical Mockingbird a good choice for future studies, particularly for testing ecological and evolutionary hypotheses regarding life history attributes, habitat selection and parental investment.

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Food as a Limit on Breeding Birds: A Life-History Perspective

(1987)

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Nest predation among vegetation layers and habitat types: revising the dogmas.

Thomas E. Martin (1993)

Greater nest predation rates on ground-nesting birds than on off-ground-nesting birds have long been assumed and used as an explanation for patterns such as greater cryptic and monomorphic coloration of ground-nesting birds and for area sensitivity and population decline of many Neotropical migrant species. I use three independent data sets to show that this assumption is not true in forest habitats, where nest predation is instead least on ground-nesting birds. Larger clutch sizes and longer nestling periods of ground-nesting species in forest habitats are indirect evidence that ground-nesting species in forest habitats have suffered lower nest predation over evolutionary time. In contrast, ground-nesting birds seem to suffer greater predation than off-ground-nesting species in shrub and grassland habitats, but evaluation of predation is complicated by habitat disturbance in many studies. Nesting mortality in general appears to be greater in shrub and grassland habitats, and species in these habitats are showing some of the most consistent long-term population declines. Additional examination of nesting mortality of coexisting species in various ecological conditions is needed to uncover patterns that may influence evolution of life-history traits and population demographies.