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Results Previous Descriptions of Petal-Carrying by Fairy-Wrens Have Reported Opportunistic Observations of Unmarked Or Unidentified Animals

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Results Previous Descriptions of Petal-Carrying by Fairy-Wrens Have Reported Opportunistic Observations of Unmarked Or Unidentified Animals VOL. 14 (3) SEPTEMBER 1991 75 by IAN ROWLEY, CSIRO Division of Wildlife & Ecology, L.M.B. 4, P.O. Midland, W.A. 6056 Summary At least six members of the genus Malurus carry brightly coloured petals in a form of display - M. cyaneus, M. splendens, M. lambeni, M. melanocephalus, M. elegans and M. leucopterus; petal­ carrying is reported here for the first time for the last two species. All species of Malurus are strongly sexually dimorphic and all birds that carried petals (except for one female) were males in full nuptial plumage. Some of the petals carried matched the plumage of the male, whereas others contrasted strongly; there appeared to be no relationship between choice of petal and rarity. It is suggested that petal-carrying enhances the attractiveness of the male to females. Introduction Communication between birds is usually by sight or sound, the third sense, smell, rarely being important. Visual signals, with or without an auditory component, tend to be stereotyped and characteristic of particular contexts (agonistic, sexual, parental). These specialised signals or displays usually involve postures which, whilst emphasising the size, colour, or intent of the bird, make use only of the physical attributes of the animal. Most foraging birds only use their own physical equipment (beak, claws etc.) in the gathering or processing of food. However, a few species have developed the ability to use extraneous items to facilitate their foraging, to extract hidden grubs, to 'fish' for termites, to open shellfish, or to break the shells of tough eggs; such activities, 'tool-using', have been summarised by Boswall (1985). In a similar way, certain species of bird have amplified their displays by incorporating extraneous items, in particular, brightly coloured petals. The most spectacular and best described cases are the performances of various bowerbirds in the Australasian endemic family Ptilonorhynchidae, in particular, that of the male Satin Bowerbird Ptilonorhynchus violaceus, which decorates its bower with a variety of items, including coloured petals (Marshall 1954; Borgia et al. 1987). It is less well known that members of another Australasian endemic family, the Maluridae, sometimes display with coloured petals or berries held in their bills. Hindwood (1948) drew attention to this behaviour, quoting his own observations, those of Chisholm (1934) and an account by Chaffer (in litt.) that would appear to be the earliest description (5 June 1922). Hindwood's note stimulated Loaring (1948) and Jack (1949) to report their observations and he published another of his own in 1951. Since then, Rowley (1965, 1991), Strong & Cuffe (1985), Hughes & Hughes (1988) and Strong (1990) have added further examples. In this paper I record, for the first time, petal-carrying by the Red-winged Fairy­ wren Malurus elegans and the White-winged Fairy-wren M. leucopterus, bringing to six the number of species in the genus Malurus that have been recorded carrying petals or berries in a display. I also elaborate on 86 instances of petal-carrying by the Splendid Fairy-wren M. splendens recorded during a long-term study of that species (Rowley & Russell 1990a). Results Previous descriptions of petal-carrying by fairy-wrens have reported opportunistic observations of unmarked or unidentified animals. This paper describes petal-carrying AUSTRALIAN 76 ROWLEY BIRD WATCHER by three species of Malurus, many members of which were individually identifiable colour-banded birds, whose social status, nesting responsibilities and territorial affiliations were known. Individual instances are reported in full forM. elegans (N =8) and M. leucopterus (N=8); the 86 instances by M. splendens are discussed in relation to the promiscuous mating strategy that appears to be exercised by this species (Rowley & Russell 1990b). Red-winged Fairy-wren During a ten-year study of this species at Smith's Brook (Rowley et al. 1988), petal­ carrying was seen eight times: 1. 24 November 1980, 1800 h; nest 80/09 had hatched that day and the two females and three males in the group were in a state of excitement, noisy and carrying food. One fully plumaged male carried a yellow petal for about 10 metres during this performance, and, although unidentified, he was thought to have belonged to the group tending the nest. 2. 30 December 1981, 1100 h; F582 was lining her nest (81129) escorted by M999, her fully plumaged mate, who was carrying a yellow petal. 3. 26 October 1984, 1730 h; F649 became very excited and noisy whilst we were trying to find her nest (which contained two eggs); two males belonging to her group flew to a nearby branch, one fully plumaged (M618) was carrying a yellow petal with which he postured at the female; F649 began Wing-fluttering (a usual malurid pre-copulatory display) and flew to the branch on which the two males were perched; M618, the older bird which had been seen to mate with F649 three days earlier, took no notice of her now appearing to be engrossed in his petal display; M7764, a one-year-old male, mounted the soliciting F649 who was his mother. 4. 5 November 1984, 1400 h; several unidentified fully plumaged males were attending F6477 closely, one of them was carrying a white petal. 5. 28 September 1986, 1210 h; an unhanded fully plumaged male was seen carrying a yellow petal in the company of a banded (but unidentified) female. All the local males were colour-banded so that this male must have been philandering - seeking a mating outside his social group (Rowley & Russell 1990b). 6. 31 October 1986, 0830 h; an unidentified fully plumaged male displayed with a yellow petal to an unidentified female in thick cover. 7. 6 November 1988, 1200 h; fully plumaged M62209 carried a large yellow Hibbertia cuneiformis petal which he presented to an unhanded female that could have been his new partner; both birds disappeared into thick cover and when they reappeared a minute later, the male was no longer carrying the petal. 8. 8 November 1988, 1103 h; an unhanded fully plumaged male, that was carrying a yellow Hibbertia cuneiformis petal, approached an unidentified female that appeared to take no notice. The male hopped to a parallel branch and, facing the female, again offered the petal to her; again she showed no response. White-winged Fairy-wren Eight cases of petal-carrying have been observed in this species currently being studied at Pippidinny, W.A. (31 "35'S, 115 °41 'E; Rowley, unpublished). 1. 23 October 1987, 0800 h; E.M. Russell watched an unhanded fully plumaged male carrying a pink Erodium sp. petal. 2. 9 December 1987, 1l30 h; whilst I was searching for a fledgling, fully plumaged M863 circled the area carrying a large yellow petal. · VOL. 14 (3) SEPTEMBER 1991 Petal-carrying by Fairy-wrens 77 3. 2 July 1988, 1435 h; I watched an unhanded fully plumaged male and two unhanded females; the male performed Sea Horse Flight (see below under splendens) and when he landed was seen to be carrying a purple petal. 4. 7 July 1989, 1200 h; whilst I was trying to locate a new group of M. leuconotus, a banded fully plumaged male (M863) landed 3m from me, carrying a narrow strip of purple petal (he was philandering as he was known to belong to a group 200m to the west where he had a nest with a clutch nearing completion; there was another, unhanded, fully plumaged male in the territory under observation). 5 & 6. 18 November 1989; 0800 h; whilst I was watching a nest being lined, a fully plumaged male (Mll6) from the next-door territory (where he was tending four three-week-old young) and an unhanded fully plumaged male from the opposite direction, in tum flew to the nest area, each of them carrying blue petals (that matched their plumage). Male 116 did not stay long and returned to his family; however, the unhanded male stayed for 10 minutes carrying his petal all the time and once perching beside the blue plastic tape with which I had flagged the area to be searched for a nest. 7. 2 June 1990, 1210 h; fully plumaged male M116 was encountered outside his territory, pursuing five or six brown birds. He was carrying a small piece of white petal (est. 10x5 mm: the only candidate flowering species was Hemiandra pungens). 8. 18 September 1990, 1435 h; by using 'playback' of recorded calls, I was trying to persuade birds to show themselves and to be identified. Male M116 from the neighbouring territory flew in carrying a small piece of pale blue or white petal and proceeded to chase a brown bird for ten minutes before returning to his territory. At this time of year the variety of candidate petals is too numerous to permit identification. Splendid Fairy-wren In the course of a continuing long-term study on Gooseberry Hill, W.A. (Rowley & Russell 1990a) petal-carrying has been observed 86 times, 49 of which involved colour-banded birds that were individually identifiable and whose age, status and territory were known. In fifteen of these events, the actor was not identified, so that we do not know whether he was resident or intruder. On twenty-two occasions the actor was seen to be unhanded and known to be intruding into a territory where the group members were all colour-banded. A further 26 actors were recognised as philandering, colour-banded individuals. This leaves 23 colour-banded individuals that carried petals within their own territory boundaries; one of these was a female which, when disturbed from her nest, performed Rodent-run display (Rowley 1962) to a Hibbenia bush where she picked a yellow petal and then continued to Rodent-run carrying the petal.
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