Disturbance of plain martin Riparia paludicola nests by grey-headed sparrow Passer griseus swainsonii PDF
Preview Disturbance of plain martin Riparia paludicola nests by grey-headed sparrow Passer griseus swainsonii
Shortcommunications 51 party there in January 1996. Clearly the species does breed at this altitude and in rough, cultivatedland. Apparently unrecorded nest sitesfor Black-winged LovebirdAgapornis tarantaand Hemprich's Hornbill Tockus hemprichii On 17 September 1993 John Atkins and I stopped at the bridge over a small stream about 3 km southeast of Mojo, northwest of Nazareth on the main Addis Ababa- Awash-Assabroad. ApairofBlack-wingedLovebirdsAgapornistarantawasfoundobviouslyfeeding m younginaholeintheverticalearthcliff30 downstreamofthebirdge.Theholewas m about 3 abovethe ground andthe samedistance below thetop ofthe smallcliff. It was almost round and isolated. Both birds were noisily agitated when we first ap- proachedbutafterafew minutes settleddownandvisitedthehole, apparentlytofeed younginside. Fry etal. (1988) only mention tree cavities as known nesting sites so this adapta- tion,intheincreasinglytree-improverishedlandscapeofEthiopia,mayhelptoensure thesurvivalofadelightfulendemic, which, incidentally, is still systematicallycaught forcaging in spite oflocal lawsprotecting it. Later, apairofHemprich's Hombills Tockushemprichiiwas watchedprospecting anarrowcreviceinthebrokenmasonryoftheoldbridge.Thefemalewasenteringthe creviceandcallingtothemalefrominside.Fryetal. (1988)recorded"naturalholesin rock faces" as the most usual nest site but do not mention man-made structures. Al- though not evidence of breeding, our observation suggests that holes in man-made structurescanbe utilized. References AshJ. S. (1978). The undescribedfemaleofHarwood's FrancolinFrancolinusharwoodiand otherobservationsonthespecies.BulletinoftheBritish Ornithologists' Club98: 50-55. FryC. H., Keith S. & Urban, E. K. (eds) 1988. The birdsofAfrica vol 3. London: Academic Press. W. G.Harvey,PoundFarm,Blackham, TunbridgeWells,KentTN39TY, UK Scopus20:48-51,May 1998 Received 14May 1996 Disturbance ofPlain MartinRipariapaludicola nests by Grey-headed SparrowPassergriseus swainsonii On 5 December 1995, while watching a small colony of Plain Martins Riparia paludicola at about 20m distance in the opposite sandy bank ofa small fast-flowing river near Lake Abiata, Ethiopia, the unusual behaviour ofsome Grey-headed Spar- rowsPassergriseusswainsoniiwasnoticed.Oneofthesesparrowsenteredoneofthe nest-holesandshortlyafterflewoutanddroppedanestlingmartin.AsAJPwasexam- iningthis, only afew metres fromthe nest-hole, anothernestling, probably from this 52 Shortcommunications same nest, was dropped nearby by the same or another sparrow. Shortly afterwards two Grey-headed Sparrows were seen at the entrance ofthe martin's nest-hole. One enteredthe tunnel whilethe othersat ontheedge andan apparently distressedmartin flew about nearby. The sparrows stayed at the nest for several minutes before flying offatwhich point we also left. As the sparrows were not taking the nestlings forfood it would appear likely that they were intendingtotakethenest-hole overforthemselves. Grey-headedSparrownestsitesincludeholesinbuildings,andtheyhavealsobeen knowntotakeoverdisusednests ofother species (Summers-Smith 1988, Clementet ai 1993). However,wehavefoundnoreferencetothem,ortoGrey-headedSparrows in other parts of Africa, nesting in sandbanks or taking over nests that are already occupied(Keithetal. 1992,Turner&Rose 1989). WeareverygratefultoDrJohnAshforcommentingonthisnote. References Clement,P.,Harris,A. &Davis,J. 1993.Finchesandsparrows:Anidentificationguide.Lon- don: ChristopherHelm. Keith,S.,Urban,E.K.&Fry,C.H. 1992.ThebirdsofAfrica,vol4.London:AcademicPress. Summers-Smith,J. D. 1988. Thesparrows. Calton: Poyser. Turner, A. K. & Rose, C. 1989. Swallows andmartins ofthe world. An identification guide. London: ChristopherHelm. A.J.Pierce,5StNicholasDrive,Cheltenham,GlosGL504RY, UKandM.D.Rayment,39 LoringRoad,Sharnbrook,BedsMK44UK, UK Scopus20: 51-52,May 1998 Received22October 1996 A new location for the Usambara Eagle OwlBubo vosseleri Stuart & Jensen (1981) documented range extensions and other notable records of forest birds in Tanzania. Since then the University ofCopenhagen has been carrying out biodiversity studies ofthe Udzungwa and Uluguru forest systems. These studies have already produced two new species and further range extensions for the Udzungwas (Dinesenetal. 1993, Jensen & Br0gger-Jensen 1992, Jensen 1983). InNovember 1995, wevisitedtheUlugurumontaneforestanddiscoveredanother notable range extension. Having perused the draft Uluguru biodiversity report (Svendsen & Hansen 1995), we decided to camp at the junction ofthe Kihilili and m Nyachiro paths at an altitude of 1550 in the centre of the North Uluguru Forest Reserve. OurmainpurposewastolocatetheUluguruBushShrikeMalaconotusalius butthedraftreport also indicatedpossible sightings ofalarge owl in that area. On22November, ataround 17:45,EMindicatedthathehadheardanowlreminis- centofthecallthathehadheardpreviouslyintheUsambaraForest,whenaccompany- ingDavidMoyer.Nofurthercallswerenotedthatnight.Duringthefollowingnightat 03:30,allthreeofusclearlyheardthecallofBubovosseleri(formerlytheNdukEagle OwlBubopoensis), perhapsbestdescribed as adrawn out, quavering, haunting two-
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