Nectar intake of White-Bellied Sunbirds (Cinnyris talatala) : can meal size be inferred from feeding duration?

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Authors

Koehler, Angela
Verburgt, Luke
Nicolson, Sue W.

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University of Chicago Press

Abstract

A positive relationship between feeding duration and meal size of avian nectarivores has often been assumed in earlier studies. We investigated whether feeding duration can be used as a surrogate for the amount of sugar solution ingested by whitebellied sunbirds, Cinnyris (Nectarinia) talatala. Feeding durations of sunbirds consuming three sucrose concentrations (10%, 20%, and 40% w/w) were measured using an infrared photodetection system, and the amounts consumed were recorded simultaneously by weighing the feeder throughout the experiment. For all three diet concentrations, a positive relationship was found between the time spent feeding per 30 min and the mass consumed. Therefore, feeding duration is demonstrated to be an index of the amount ingested on a particular sugar concentration. The rate of ingestion, however, depended on the sugar concentration, with the highest rate at the lowest concentration of 10% and the lowest rate at the 40% concentration. Less total time was spent feeding on the 20% solution than on the 10% solution, but time increased on the 40% diet because of viscosity effects. There appeared to be a weak relationship between feeding patterns and sex, but this was not significant, probably because of interindividual variation.

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Keywords

Feeding, Meal size, Sunbirds, Cinnyris talatala

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Citation

Kohler, A, Verburgt , L & Nicolson, SW 2008, ‘Nectar intake of White-Bellied Sunbirds (Cinnyris talatala) : can meal size be inferred from feeding duration?’, Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, vol. 81, no. 5, pp. 682-687. [http://0- www.journals.uchigaco.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/588174]