SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 239 from the useful comments of E. 0. Willis, T. S. Schu- and classificationof New World suboscinepas- lenberg, and L. Kiff. Financial support was provided serine (Passeriformes:Oligomyodi: Tyran- by SEPANGUY. nides), p. 396428. In P. A. Buckley et al. [eds.], Neotropical ornithology. Omithol. Monogr. No. LITERATURE CITED 36. The American Ornithologists’ Union, Wash- ATLAS DE LA GWANE. 1979. Paris, Bordeaux: coed. ington, DC. CNRS-ORSTOM. THIOLLAY, J.-M. 1986. Structurecornpan% du peuple- ERARD,CH. 1982. Le nid et la ponte de Lipaugus ment avien dans trois sites de for& primaire en vociferans,Cotingidt, et de Grallaria varia, For- Guyane. Rev. Ecol. (Terre Vie) 41:59-105. micariide. Alauda 50:3 1l-3 13. TOSTAIN,0. 1986. Description du nid et de la ponte de deux formicariidts guyanais:Hyiopezus mac- FORESTA,H. DE, P. CHARLES-DOMINIQUE,CH. ERARD, ANDM. F. PREVOST.1984. Zoochorie et premiers ulariuset Thamnophilusnigrocinereus. Alauda 54: stadesde la regenerationnaturelle apres coupe en 170-176. forCt guyanaise. Rev. Ecol. (Terre Vie) 39:369- WIEDENFELD,D. A. 1982. A nest of the Pale-billed 400. (Grallaria carrikeri)with comparative re- marks on antpitta nests.Wilson Bull. 94:580-582. GRANVILLE,J.-J. DE 1982. Rain and xeric flora refuges in , p. 159-18 1. In G. T. WILLIS, E. 0. 1979. Comportamento e ecologia da Prance [ed.], Biologicaldiversification in the trop- mk-de-tabca, Phlegopsisnigromaculata (d’Or- its. Columbia Univ. Press, New York. bigny & Lafresnaye) (Aves, ) Rev. HILTY, S. L., ANDW. L. BROWN. 1986. A field guide Brasil. Biol. 39:117-159. to the birds of . Princeton Univ. Press, WILLIS,E. 0. 1984. Hylophylax,Hypocnemoides, and iXrr Myrmoderusas followers. Revista Bras. L...#. SIBLEY,C. G., ANDJ. E. AHLQUIST. 1985. Phylogeny Zool., S. Paulo 2:159-164.

The Condor 90~239-241 Q The CooperOrnithological Society 1988

THE NESTING AND FEEDING BEHAVIOR OF THE ORNATE - NEAR MANAUS, ’

BERTC. KLEW Department of Zoology, Universityof Florida, Gainesville,FL 32611

LEE H. HARPER Department of BiologicalSciences, State Universityof New York, Albany, NY 12211

RICHARD 0. BIERREGAARD World Wildlife Fund-U.S., 1255 23rd St. N. W., Washington,DC 20037

GEORGE V. N. POWELL National AudubonSociety Research Department, I I5 Indian Mound Trail, Tavernier, FL 33070

Key words: Ornate Hawk-Eagle; Spizaetus orna- STUDY AREA AND METHODS tus;Amazonia; feeding behavior;nesting. A large stick nest was found in virgin forest 70 km north of Manaus, Brazil (2”25”S, 59”5O”W, see Bier- The Ornate Hawk-Eagle(Spizeatus ornatus), found over regaard 1984 for general habitat description). We ini- most of tropical Central and South America, is typi- tiated observations in June 1983 when adult Ornate cally a of denseforest (Brown and Amadon 1968). Hawk- were found on and around the nest. In- Nests are difficult to observe in high tropical . tensive observationswere made from 2 1 Septemberto Little has been reported on its biology other than casual 28 November 1983. Durina this time we recorded 173 observationsby Slud (Brown and Amadon 1968) and hr of observationson the adultsand 77 on the nestling. Lyon and Kuhnigk (1985). Our study provides infor- From 28 November 1983 until 27 July 1984 briefdaily mation on nest activity from copulationand nestbuild- to bi-weekly observations were recorded. An obser- ing to 3 18 days after hatching. vation platform constructed 19 m high in a tree and 72 m from the nest acrossa clearingallowed an unob- structedview of the nest. ’ Received 9 February 1987. Final acceptance8 July The sex of the adults was distinguishedby size dif- 1987. ferencesand individual molting patterns.We assumed 240 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS

TABLE 1. Spizaetusornatus prey speciesidentified the Ornate Hawk-Eagle taking two squirrel monkeys from bones in the nest and prey observed delivered to (Saimiri sciureus),a Saddle-backedTamarin (Saguinus the nest. fuscicollis),two spiny woodrats (Proecomyssp.), and three Purple Gallinules(Porphyrula martinica) in Manu Individ- Percent Park, . uals of total ADULT BEHAVIOR On the morning of 24 June, the eaglescopulated on Unidentified * 1 the nest. We later projected, based on observationsof Unidentified (Teiidae) 1 the nestling and an estimated incubation time of 40 Total reptiles z 4.1 days (Brown 1977) that the eggswere laid in the be- Birds ginning of August. The occurrenceof copulations in Juneindicates the specieshas a long period ofcourtship Tinamus sp. (major or guttatus) 6 prior to egg laying. Crypturellussp. (variegatusor After hatching,whenever the adult male approached souz) 4 the nest area, it vocalized. The female reciprocatedby Crypturellusvariegatus 1 calling from on or near the nest. The calling bouts Ara macao 1 usually lasted from 2 to 8 min before the female flew Ara sp. (probably manilata) 1 to receive prey from the male. The male was observed Ramphastosvitellinus 1 on the nest only once for a few seconds before the Penelopesp. (probably marail) 2 female aggressivelychased it off. In contrast, the male Penelopesp. (probablyjacuacu) 10 (Morphnusguianensis) studied by Bier- Ortalis 1 regaard(1984) alwaysdelivered prey to the nest during Smaller birds 4 4 weeks of observation and was never aggressively Total birds 31 63.5 chasedaway by the female. Throughout the nesting cycle, the female broke branchesfrom trees within 100 to 200 m of the nest * (Didelphis marsupi- and added them to the nest. Prey remains were rou- alis, Metachirus nudicaudatus) 2 tinely removed from the nest at least 2 to 4 times daily Dasyproctidae(Myoprocta sp. or and taken to a “dump,” a conspicuousperch 50 m Dasyproctasp.) 12 from the nest where the bones were dropped to the Myoprocta sp. 1 forest floor. Coendusp. 1 On two occasions Blue-and-yellow Macaws (Ara Total mammals 16 32.7 ararauna) and Greater Yellow-headed Vultures (Ca- Grand total 49 thartes melambrotus)passed within 25 m of the nest * Indicatesrecords based on observationsof the eagleswth prey not while both the nestling and adult female were on the representedm skeletalmaterial taken from nest. nest. The adult called briefly as the vultures passedbut did not leave the nest. The eaglesshowed no response that the larger bird found consistently on or close to to the macaws or to the presenceof a crew of chain the nest was the female. sawyersfelling the forest within 38 m of the nest. On 12 May 1983, 19 to 26 days after fledging, the juvenile was captured with a bal-chatri trap (Berger JUVENILE BEHAVIOR AND DEVELOPMENT and Hamerstrom 1962) baited with a live chicken. A Based on the size of the nestling when we began ob- 12-g transmitter was mounted on the eagle’s central servations, we estimated that it hatched 2 to 4 days tail rectrice. earlier, between 17 and 19 September. At this time, Seven months after fledging, the nest tree was cut the youngwas all downy and barely able to lift its head down in the ranch’s attempt to create more cattle pas- from the floor of the nest. At 36 days it began to peck ture. The nest was measured and prey remains re- at prey carcassesbetween feedingsby the adult female. moved for identification. Wing and tail feathers began to appear at about 37 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION days. The nestling was able to tear some food off prey in the nest without parental help by 54 days. Between NEST SITE 35 and 57 days the time spent feeding increased 14%. The nest site was in a small ravine next to a stream 1 It started climbing on branchesoutside the nest by 7 1 to 2 m wide. From rim to rim, the nest was 1.7 m in days and fledgedbetween 83 to 90 davs after hatchine diameter and located 37 m high in the main fork of (for discussionwe assume fledging at 87 days afte; an emergent 46-m tall Hymenaea sp. (Leguminosae) hatching). tree. The tree’s diameter at breast height was 1 m. The The juvenile was captured 23 days after fledging. It canopy was 11 m in diameter at nest level with branch- had a wing length of 370 mm, a tail length of 350 mm, es of 25 cm, 18 cm, and 15 cm in diameter supporting and a tarsusof 110 mm. Basedon thesemeasurements the nest. it was assumedto be a female (Bierregaard1978, Weick 1980). PREY Between 23 and 76 days after fledging, we located Remains of 45 prey items were collected in the nest the juvenile with radio telemetry 73 times on 4 1 days (Table 1). Scott Robinson (pers. comm.) has recorded (transmitter’s battery went dead at 54 days). The ju- SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 241

venile was never found more than 170 m from the provided unpublisheddata on prey species.The manu- nest. Over 90% of the observations were within 100 script benefited from conversationswith Malcolm m of the nest. On 27 July, 225 days after fledging, we and John Eisenberg.This study was supportedby the observed a food transfer from an adult hawk-eagleto World Wildlife Fund-US, the Instituto National de the juvenile within 100 m of the nest. Before the trans- Pesquisada Amazonia (INPA), and the Instituto Bra- fer the adult and juvenile called repeatedly 160 m apart sileiro de Desenvoivimento Florestal (IBDF), and rep- for 36 min. The juvenile then left its perch and flew resentspublication number 32 in the Minimum Crit- to the adult, grabbed the prey item from its talons ical Size of EcosystemsProject (Dinamica Biologicade without landing and continued to a nearby perch. It FragmentosFlorestais) technical series. continued to exchangecalls with the adult for 2 min. These observations indicate that the juvenile hawk- LITERATURE CITED eaglewas partially dependent on parental feeding 3 12 BERGER,D. D., AND F. HAMERSTROM.1962. Pro- daysafter hatchingwhen the studywas concluded.This tecting a trapping station from raptor predation. supports Brown’s (1977) generalization that tropical J. Wildl. Manage. 26:203-206. raptors have a long parental dependencyperiod com- BIERREGAARD,R. O., JR. 1978. Morphological anal- pared to similar sized temperate raptors. yses of community structure in birds of prey. If we assumethat Ornate Hawk-Eagles have an in- Ph.D.diss., Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. cubation period of at least 40 days, they will require BIERREGAARD,R. O., JR. 1984. Observations of the well over a year for courtship, nesting,and raising one nesting biology of the Guiana Crested Eagle youngto independence.At most, this speciesmay pro- (Morphnusguianensis). Wilson Bull. 96:1-5. duce one nestling every other year. Such low produc- BROWN,L. 1977. Eaglesof the world. Universe Books, tivity may make the species sensitive to habitat de- New York. struction or hunting pressure. BROWN,L., AND D. AMADON. 1968. Eagles, We appreciated the help of Susan Renner and An- and falcons of the world. McGraw-Hill Book Co., tonio Cabral in identifying the nest tree. Antonio Ca- New York. bra1 also helped with the construction of the obser- LYON,B., AND A. KUHNIGK. 1985. Observations on vation platform. Fernando C. Novaes, Jose Maria nesting Ornate Hawk-Eagles in . Wil- Cardosada Silva, and Maria de Fatima Lima identified son Bull. 97:141-147. the prey remains from the nest usingreference material WEICK,F. 1980. Birds of prey ofthe world: a coloured at the Museu Goeldi in Belem, Brazil. Rocelino Marajo guide to identification of all the diurnal species, dos Reis and Luis Raimundo helped with many of the order . Verlag Paul Parey, Ham- ordeals of living in a remote field site. Scott Robinson burg.

The Condor 90~241-245 0 The CooperOrnithological Society 1988

A CASE OF COMMUNAL NESTING IN THE EUROPEAN STARLING ’

PHILIPC. STOUFFER,LINDA C. ROMAGNANO,MICHAEL P. L~MBARDO,* ANN S. HOF~ENBERG,AND HARRYW. POWER Department of BiologicalSciences, Rutgers University,Nelson BiologicalLaboratory, P.O. Box 1059, Piscataway,NJ 08854

Key words: Communalnesting; hole-nesting species;brood of a singlebreeding pair (e.g.,Skutch 196 1, Brown EuropeanStarling: Stumus vulgaris;parentage;polyg- 1978, Emlen 1978). A less common system involves yny; electrophoresis;nest-site competition. two or more females and one or more males contrib- uting gametesto a single brood that they raise coop- The most common type of avian communal breeding eratively (Koenig and Pitelka 1981). The latter phe- system involves helpers at the nest, in which one or nomenon is well known in Groove-billed Anis more nonreproductive conspecificshelp to raise the (Crotophagasulcirostris; Vehrencamp 1978) and Acorn (Melanerpesformicivorus; Koenig and Pitelka 1979). In other species, in which nonrepro- ductive helpers are common, a minority of nests con- I Received 25 February 1987. Final acceptance27 tain the clutchesof more than one female (Zahavi 1974, August 1987. Rowley 1978, Lawton and Lawton 1985). Few other 2 Presentaddress: Museum of Zoology and Michigan casesof communal laying and subsequentcooperation Society of Fellows, University of Michigan, Ann Ar- in parental care have been reported (Bellrose 1943, bor, MI 48 109. Hawksley and McCormack 1951, Brackbilll952, Frith