Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

About: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is a nonprofit organization based out in Sandy, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Biodiversity. The organization has 670 authors who have published 1425 publications receiving 88006 citations. The organization is also known as: RSPB & Plumage League.

Sex differences in the behaviour and measurements of Corncrakes Crex crex in Scotland

Abstract: Radio‐tagged Corncrakes which incubated clutches and/or accompanied broods of chicks were not observed to sing Birds which sang did not give parental care Dissection of two birds which had been radio‐tracked indicated that the first group were females and the second group were males This confirmed previous indications that, in the wild, only females care for the eggs and young and only males sing The length of the head and bill and the maximum chord wing length were both greater in males than females A linear discriminant function including these two measurements sexed 96% of birds correctly Functions fitted separately to data from each of two study areas sexed 93% of birds correctly when applied to birds from the other area

Shearwaters know the direction and distance home but fail to encode intervening obstacles after free-ranging foraging trips

Abstract: While displacement experiments have been powerful for determining the sensory basis of homing navigation in birds, they have left unresolved important cognitive aspects of navigation such as what birds know about their location relative to home and the anticipated route. Here, we analyze the free-ranging Global Positioning System (GPS) tracks of a large sample (n = 707) of Manx shearwater, Puffinus puffinus, foraging trips to investigate, from a cognitive perspective, what a wild, pelagic seabird knows as it begins to home naturally. By exploiting a kind of natural experimental contrast (journeys with or without intervening obstacles) we first show that, at the start of homing, sometimes hundreds of kilometers from the colony, shearwaters are well oriented in the homeward direction, but often fail to encode intervening barriers over which they will not fly (islands or peninsulas), constrained to flying farther as a result. Second, shearwaters time their homing journeys, leaving earlier in the day when they have farther to go, and this ability to judge distance home also apparently ignores intervening obstacles. Thus, at the start of homing, shearwaters appear to be making navigational decisions using both geographic direction and distance to the goal. Since we find no decrease in orientation accuracy with trip length, duration, or tortuosity, path integration mechanisms cannot account for these findings. Instead, our results imply that a navigational mechanism used to direct natural large-scale movements in wild pelagic seabirds has map-like properties and is probably based on large-scale gradients.

A review of reports of Buzzard persecution 1975–1989

Abstract: An analysis of reports of Buzzard persecution in Britain using data collated by the RSPB for the period 1975 to 1989 revealed records of 238 Buzzards that had been killed illegally. A comparison with the results of the 1981 BTO Buzzard survey showed that Buzzards are significantly more likely to be reported dead through persecution on the edge of their range in Britain compared with the middle of the range. Of all reported deaths, 39% occurred in March and April, and were largely attributable to the misuse of poisons. Three main poisons regularly killed Buzzards; alpha-chloralose, mevinphos and strychnine. During the period of the analysis, the number of Buzzards illegally killed and reported annually did not show any decrease. Persecution is still considered a factor likely to be contributing to the restriction of the Buzzard's range in Britain.

Laying date, chick provisioning, and breeding success of lesser noddies on aride island, seychelles

Abstract: We describe the main reproductive characteristics (laying date, egg size, hatchling mass, and breeding success), chick growth, and patterns of provisioning in Lesser Noddies (Anous tenuirostris) on Aride Island, Seychelles, 1995–2002. The bulk of the population laid eggs between late May and late June in most years. Both hatching and fledging success varied significantly between years, with fledging success (2–92%) more variable than hatching success (28–91%). Productivity of less than 0.10 chicks per breeding pair occurred in 25% of the years. In 2001, egg volume did not differ significantly between hatched and unhatched eggs. Chick mass at hatching was significantly correlated with an egg volume index, but there were no correlations between egg size and either hatching date or linear growth rate. Around 40% of the Lesser Noddy chicks were fed at dusk. Chicks aged 0–5 and 6–10 days received significantly less food than older chicks. There was evidence of daily and stochastic variation in the for...