An Unusual Sequence of Flight-Feather Molt in Common Murres and Its Evolutionary Implications

The Auk ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 115 (3) ◽  
pp. 653-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher W. Thompson ◽  
Monique L. Wilson ◽  
Edward F. Melvin ◽  
D. John Pierce
Keyword(s):  
Flight Feather ◽  
Common Murres ◽  
Feather Molt

scholarly journals Allometry of the Duration of Flight Feather Molt in Birds

PLoS Biology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. e1000132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sievert Rohwer ◽  
Robert E. Ricklefs ◽  
Vanya G. Rohwer ◽  
Michelle M. Copple
Keyword(s):  
Flight Feather ◽  
Feather Molt

scholarly journals High-intensity flight feather molt and comparative molt ecology of warblers of eastern North America

The Auk ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 138 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald L Mumme ◽  
Robert S Mulvihill ◽  
David Norman
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
High Intensity ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Late Summer ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Surprising Result ◽  
Flight Feather ◽  
Feather Molt

Abstract Rapid high-intensity molt of flight feathers occurs in many bird species and can have several detrimental consequences, including reductions in flight capabilities, foraging performance, parental care, and plumage quality. Many migratory New World warblers (family Parulidae) are known to have intense remigial molt, and recent work has suggested that simultaneous replacement of the rectrices may be widespread in the family as well. However, the phylogenetic distribution of simultaneous rectrix molt, and high-intensity flight feather molt more generally, has not been systematically investigated in warblers. We addressed this issue by examining flight feather molt in 13 species, representing 7 different warbler genera, at Powdermill Avian Research Center in southwestern Pennsylvania, USA. All 13 species replaced their 12 rectrices simultaneously, with the onset of rectrix molt occurring in the early-middle stages of high-intensity primary molt. As expected, single-brooded early migrants molted earlier than double-brooded species whose nesting activities extend into late summer. However, our finding that late-molting species replaced their primaries more slowly and less intensively than early molting species was unexpected, as late-molting species are widely hypothesized to be under stronger migration-related time constraints. This surprising result appears to be at least partially explained by a positive association between the pace of molt and daylength; shorter late-summer days may mandate reduced daily food intake, lower molt intensity, and a slower pace of molt. In comparison to other passerines, flight feather molt in warblers of eastern North America is extraordinarily intense; at its peak, individuals are simultaneously replacing 50–67% of their 48 flight feathers (all 12 rectrices and 6–10 remiges on each wing) for 2–3 weeks or more. Because molt of this intensity is likely to present numerous challenges for flight, avoiding predators, foraging, and parental care, the period of flight feather molt for warblers constitutes a highly demanding phase of their annual cycle.

scholarly journals Moult pattern of primaries and secondaries during first and second flight feather molt in Great Grey Owls Strix nebulosa

Ornis Svecica ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-19
Author(s):  
Roar Solheim
Keyword(s):  
Variable Number ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Flight Feather ◽  
Strix Nebulosa ◽  
Second Year ◽  
Feather Molt ◽  
Wing Moult

Great Grey Owls start flight feather moult when in their second year. Moult was studied on outspread wings of 58 individuals in the collections at Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet in Stockholm. The owls always moulted the innermost secondaries in their first moult, and usually at least two primaries, most often P5 and P6. After this moult, birds had 11–17 juvenile feathers left in each wing, of a total of 21 flight feathers. In their second flight feather moult, birds shed primaries outwards and inwards from the primaries moulted during the first moult. A variable number of secondaries outwards from S10 and S11 were moulted. All birds retained at least one juvenile feather, always P1. The number of juvenile flight feathers after the second moult was 1–6. The collection held no individuals known to be in their third flight feather moult. Thus it was not possible to determine whether birds in this age group could be aged by the wing moult pattern. Great Grey Owls with no juvenile flight feathers should thus be classified as 4C+ in autumn, and 5C+ in spring.

scholarly journals Isotopic Evaluation of Interrupted Molt in Northern Breeding Populations of the Loggerhead Shrike

The Condor ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 877-886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo E. Pérez ◽  
Keith A. Hobson
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Southern Region ◽  
Flight Feather ◽  
Isotopic Evidence ◽  
Breeding Populations ◽  
Breeding Location ◽  
Feather Molt ◽  
Loggerhead Shrike

Abstract Abstract The Loggerhead Shrike (Laniusludovicianus) breedsthroughout North America and various populationsapparently exhibit diverse molt strategies.However, molt in this species and how it may varygeographically is generally poorly known. Weinvestigated molt sequence in 27 breedingLoggerhead Shrikes using stable hydrogen(δD) isotope analysis of flightfeathers. Because feather δD varies with thelatitude at which feathers are grown in NorthAmerica, it is relatively straightforward toidentify those feathers grown south of anindividual's breeding location. We sampled 11feathers per individual to evaluate locations offeather molt between breeding and wintering groundsin North America. Sampling took place in centralSaskatchewan, Canada (n =  18 individuals) andin the southern region of the Saskatchewan-Manitobaborder (n =  9). We found evidencethat shrikes initiated flight feather molt on theirbreeding grounds (P1 and P3) but thenlargely suspended molt until reaching theirwintering areas. The isotopic evidence suggeststhat the first primary (P1, most depleted indeuterium, mean  = −103‰) provides information onshrike breeding latitudes while the innermosttertial (S9, most enriched in deuterium, mean =  −49‰)provides information on shrike wintering orsouthernmost molting latitudes.

scholarly journals Polymorphic Flight-Feather Molt Sequence in Tufted Puffins (Fratercula Cirrhata): A Rare Phenomenon in Birds

The Auk ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher W. Thompson ◽  
Alexander S. Kitaysky
Keyword(s):  
Total Duration ◽  
Flight Feather ◽  
Passerine Species ◽  
Rare Phenomenon ◽  
Discrete Sequences ◽  
Second Year ◽  
Feather Molt ◽  
Second Wave

Abstract Previous reports have stated that Tufted Puffins (Fratercula cirrhata) lose all of their flight feathers simultaneously (or nearly so) during flight-feather molt and replace them in no apparent order. In contrast, we found that captive second-year (SY) Tufted Puffins (1) typically require 15 and 10 days to lose their primaries and secondaries, respectively, during their first flight-feather molt, and an average of 21 days to lose all of their remiges; and (2) replace their primaries in either of two discrete sequences. In 9 of 13 birds, primary molt began at the innermost primary, P1, and progressed distally to the outermost functional primary, P10. However, in the remaining four birds, primary molt began in the middle of the primaries (P5-P7) and progressed both distally to P10 and proximally toward P1. Before the proximal wave reached P1, a second wave of molt was initiated at P1 and progressed distally, typically replacing P2 and P3 before reaching the proximal wave. Such polymorphism in flight-feather molt sequence is rare in birds, having been reported previously only in a few passerine species. Secondary molt began about 13 days after onset of primary molt and finished at about the same time as primary molt, resulting in a total duration of flight-feather molt of ∼54 days and a flightless period of ∼40 days.

Flight feather molt in Common Grackles (Quiscalus quiscula)

2020 ◽  
Vol 131 (4) ◽  
pp. 807
Author(s):  
Page E. Klug ◽  
H. Jeffrey Homan ◽  
Brian D. Peer ◽  
George M. Linz
Keyword(s):  
Flight Feather ◽  
Feather Molt ◽  
Quiscalus Quiscula

Flight-Feather Molt Patterns and Age in North American Owls Peter Pyle

The Auk ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 553-553
Author(s):  
Jonathan Dwight,
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Flight Feather ◽  
Feather Molt
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