Corella,1995, 19(2): 5F60 ABUNDANCE,SITE FIDELITY,MORPHOMETRICS AND SEX RATIOSOF SCARLETHONEYEATER Myzomela sanguinolenta AT A SITE IN SOUTH.EASTQUEENSLAND S.J. M. BLABER 33 wuduru Roa,.I.Cornubia- Quecnsland'll3(l Reftifttl 5 ADtil. I9I)1 Scarlet Honeyealerswere banded at a study site at N/ounlCotton, souih-east Queensland from 19861o 1993. The sileconsisted of sclerophyllwoodland, creek vegelation and a ruralgarden. There was a markedseasonal change in ScarletHoneyeater abundance, with numbersincreasing lrom a minrmumin Marchto a maximumin August followed by a declineto December.No birdswere recorded In Januaryor February.There was no significantinterannual variation rn meanlrapping rales. The numbersof birdscaught each month were significantly and negatively correlated with ralnfall. Changes in abundancemay nol be relatedlo availabilityof blossoms.Morphomelric data indicatelhat males havesigniJicantly greater wing, lail and tarsuslengths than females, and are heavier.The sex ralio was skewedin favour ol males (3:2) and this phenomenonis discussed.Rekap data show that a small proportionof birdsreturn annLrally to the studysile and areresident for partof theyear. The remaining birdswere assumed 1o be passagemigranls, possibly moving lnland to lhe DividingRange during the wel season. INTRODUCTION bccn rcportcd (I-ongrnorc l99l). Outsiclc Aust- ralia, publishcd information is limitcd to casual The nominate subspecies of thc scxually observations(e.g. Forbes l{ttt5) and trrief studies dinrorphicScarlet Honeyeater M_vzom - eI a sanguino (c.g. Ripley 1959). lentu sanguinolentaoccurs along most of the east coirstof Australia.with an additionall0 subspccies As part of ir long-tcrrn banding study in sub- extending in an arc through the Lesser Sundas coastalsouth-cast Oueensland, particular attention (e.g. Tanimbar Is., SeramIs.) to the Molluccas was paid to Scarlet Honcycatcrs. The main and Sulawesi(White and Brucc 1986).It doesnot o[.rjectivesof the study were to (a) monitor occurin New Guinea. monthly and annual cycles of abundance. (b) to obtain detailed information on morphomctric In Australia the spccies is nomadic in the differences between the sexes and accuratcly southcrn part of its rangc, particularly around describethe sex ratio, (c) to cxaminc interannual Sydney, but northcrn populations may bc more site fidclity, and (d) to relate thesc to thc life resident (Longmore 1991). Despite its broad history and ecology of the species. geographicrange and abundancein casternAust- ralia, the species has received relatively little METHODS attcntion.The sparse information on itsseasonal Thc studysite (27"39'30'5. 153'13',15"E; l5 m abundancc was summarized by Keast (1968), ASL)ncar Mount Cotton consistsof a 4.5 ba area of primary sclcrophyll while its gcneral food requirements and habitat torcst. some creek vegcution and a rural gardcr plnntcd wirh preferencesin relation to other mcliphagidshave numerous Ca1l^/crbn, Greyillca .trul Meloleutu specics.Thc site bcen discussedby Ford and Paton (1985). The is contiguouswith l:rfgc arcas o{ sclcrophyll forest although adaptive radiation and morphometrics of thc these xrc {radually bcconling fragmcntcd by dcvebpmenl. genus were compirred with African counterpafts Mist nets!'ere uscd to capluro birds at estat)lishcdncr si1cs. by Keast (1984) and isolated observations on Thc sampling strategy was brsed on the constant clrorl breeding, such as that of Wolstenholmc (1930), principlc (Underhill and Oatley 1989)rnd ncls wcrc ser(from have been summarisedby Longmore (1991). sunisc 1()sunset) as olten as possiblefrom March 1986until An Dcccrrbcr 1993.A tolal of 5il6 anomaly in d{ys ne ing w:rsconduclcd in the sex ratio, with colourcd males thc 2i125-daysampling period (21%). The numbcr of days greatly outnumbering brown females, has also nettjn8 each mon(h nd ycar arc shown in Tablc L 55 S. J. M. Blabet: Bandingsludy of ScarletHoneyeater Corella19(2) TABLE ] Numbcr ol days mist nctting each monrh and ycar al Mount Cotbn study sitc. EE fl9 9l Month u12 5126.1 653 2512',7rJ12.10 March 139u2227 April - 2 6 5 20 10',7 t2 69 Mrv tJ 910 lt'7 u 9.l 66 1 / 8 l0 2 - 37 July 1 I 5 ll rr 6 8 .19 Augusr 5 4 7 E E l0 I 19 Scplcmber 5667826,16 Octobcr 7 612 9 6ti ll 359 Novcmber 2 263 74237 Dcccmber 5 7 u 13 3 6 1 8 5.1 Tolal 5l 5,r lr4 90 I I l 71 62 57 5116 TABLE 2 Trap ratc per day of ScarlctHoncycnters (including relraps) for eachmonth of eachycar and ovcrrll Drerntrap ratc f//l (includingrelraps) rr the MountCotton study sitc (-: no trappinS;0= no birds caught;S.E. = StandardError). Month S.E. Januafy 00(J (l 000.00 0 0000000.00 March 0 0-000 0.5 0.06 0.06 April 0.r.1 0 0.1'7 0.4 000.29 0.5 0.19 0.07 N{rv 00o.2 t) 000.56 0.75 0.19 0.l0 li (l 0.i16 t.25 0.lt,l 0..llt .lulv 0.29 L0 o.2 0.61 0.16 3.33 2.11 0.99 0.41 r\ugusl 1.0 1.0 0 2.t) l.18 l.6l t .l 2.25 1.57 0.34) Scptcmber r.0 0..1 0.17 L fJ3 0.13 2.811 L0 2.33 t.26 0.35 October r).29 0.17 0.1'7 l.1'1 0.61 0.13 0.18 0 0.41 0.16 L] tJ UU0 0.1.1 L25 0 0.t'7 0.15 u0000 0.25 0(l 0.03 0.03 All birds *,ere bandcd using bands supplied by thc Austra- abundance were from June to Septcmbcr. Thc liln Bird and Bal tsanding Schcme. All rrorphomelric mcan trap rates per month in each ycar arc itlso mersurcmcnts a d agcing wcre pcrfofincd using srandrrd shown in Tablc 2. lechniqucs. as de\cribed in thc Australian Bird Brnclcrs Manual (Lowc i9u9). RaiDirll has beeo monilored daily at The overall nrcan trap rates (based on mean lhc studt sile since 1977. monthly trap rates) for each ycar frorn 1986 to 1993are shown in Figure 1 Although this mcan RESULTS shouerl marktd interannualvariation. vrrilnccs within years were high and hencc intcrannual Seasonul orul interannuul ubunclance meanswere not signiliEantlydifferent. Scarlct Honeyeaterswere caught in all months cxcept.lanuaryand February. The mean trap rate Correlations with ruinfull increascdfrom 0.06 birds per day in March to a Annual rainfall totals at the study sitc from high ol 1.57 in August. thereafterdcclining to 1978to 1993are plotted in Figure 2. Theseranged 0.03 in December (Table 2). The months of pcak from 693 mm in 1993 to 1 875 mm in 1988. June,1995 S. J. lt4.Blaber Bandingstudy of ScarlelHoneyeater 57 t.6 , 1.4 * 1.2 pr o z 0.8 e 5 0.6 3 0.4 o.2 Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Doc 1986 t987 1988 1989 1990 t99l 1992 1993 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Month Figurc l. a)r.rdi1 u\ot liS.E.) nrp rut( ol S&rk,t llone| IrigurcL M.rxll,ry1-t-rer 11978199.1)iri'1ull ttrctns(xS.lt.) ?ut?tstr trlt Calon stud\ sit( ut Mt (otton ttutll titc. Monthly l5-year meansare shown in Figure 3 and variable which shows high variation bctwccn indicate that most rilin lalls between Decentber months and ycars, whcrcas tcmpcrurturc and day- rnd May with a low in September. although the lcngth follow the same pattern every year. The montlrly variancesare verv high. monthly trap ratc of lrirds was significantly negatively corrclatcd with nonthly rainfall Multiplc rcgression analyscs were used to (r = - 0.322, n : 89. P < 0.001). Similarly, cxanrinc any correlationsbctween the abundance monthly mean trap rateswere negativelycorrelated of Scarlct Honeyeatersand rainfall. Rainfall was with 15 year monthly mcan rainfall (r : 0.i194, chosenbecause it is the only major environmental n : 12. P < 0.001).Mcan ycarlytrap rateswere not significantly correlated with yearly rainfall 2000 totals. 1800 Feeding 1600 Scarlet Honeyeaters were seen teeding on 1400 blossoms of the following trccs and shrubs in the stLrdyarea (I: known to havebeen introduced = 1200 into thc arca): Calliandra haemutocephafu(1), 1000 Callistemon viminalis, Grevillea ptcridifolia, E G. robusto, G. sessl/r'.r,G. venusta, Grevillea spp. E E 800 (various hybrids) (l), Lophosternon <:onfertus, Melaleuca leucodentlron, M. linariifolia, M. 600 quinquenerviu, M. viridtfora Lrrd Westringia gretndiJoliu(I). fccding on 400 They were not sccn the blossomsof any Eucalyptusor Acccln species, 200 both of which outnumber the generalisted above. 0 Morphometrics oooq)oooo Measurements of wing lcngth, tail length, Y€ar tarsus Icngth and weight of male and fcmale Filnre 2. Annutl rantlill toalls ( 1978-199.1)ut Mt Colon ltud! Scarlet Honeyeaters are shown in Table 3. Altlrough there is some ovcrlap. males hirve S. J. M. B/aberi Bandingstudy of ScarteiHoneveater Corella19(2) TABLE 3 60 Mcasu|cmcntsof rvin,tlcngrh_ tail lcngth.trrsus lcngth and weighrof ScarlclH()ncycrrer\ from \,lounlCbtron study silc. 50 Iiemalc WING(rJrm) |5 .13 I 5lt.l 51.6 SI: 0.l6 0.22 nrin-r]rilx 51 6l 5l 59 TAll- (nrnr) I 1.1 62 i 37..1 11.I Stl 0.l9 t).l9 rninmr\ -tl-!7 l(tl7 TARSUS(mm) lll 'll Mc. Apr May Jun J u I Aug Sop Oct llovO€c i l-1..1 l.r.l SIl 0.05 tJ.Oti Monlh Il. t 16.5 I3.2 l6.rJ WF IC;lI I (g) 166 fi8ure.l. M.)rr?1r'!?t tu!i1)s(t98() 199.t)ol S& 14 llon(:". (Dtul6: i it.59 u.t2 tukt:i ut Mt aoxan stud! lt( hlkk, l(Dkllc\: t|hitc). s t.j 0.0u 0.1l 6.(llL0 6.(f 10.{) birds.