Great Tits’, Parus major (Passeriformes, Turdidae), Diet in Transformed Forest Ecosystems of Northeastern Ukraine

The diet spectrum of the great tit (Parus major L., 1758) was studied in transformed forests of northeastern Ukraine. Four forest ecosystems were surveyed: four model sites in oak woodlands and in a pine–oak forest with different stages of recreational digression. Forty-seven taxa of invertebrates (n = 325) were detected in the ration of great tit chicks. Insecta (72.4%): Lepidoptera (seven families, 35.9%), Hymenoptera (two families, 21.0%), Diptera (seven families, 2.7%) and Coleoptera (four families, 1.8%) were among them. In terms of the qualitative composition of invertebrates (20 species, 42.6%) and the proportion of seized food objects (159 objects), phytophages prevailed. The food composition of great tit chicks was the most similar in territories MS1 and MS4. It contained six common taxa for these territories (Stugren–Radulescu Index = 0.7, Jaccard = 0.2, Sorensen = 0.3).

Great tits feed their nestlings with more but smaller prey items and fewer caterpillars in cities than in forests

Rapidly increasing urbanisation is one of the most significant anthropogenic environmental changes which can affect demographic traits of animal populations, for example resulting in reduced reproductive success. The food limitation hypothesis suggests that the shortage of high-quality nestling food in cities is a major factor responsible for the reduced reproductive performance in insectivorous birds. To study this explanation, we collected data on the parental provisioning behaviour of urban and forest great tits (Parus major) in three years that varied both in caterpillar availability (the main food of great tit nestlings) and in reproductive success of the birds. In all years, urban parents provisioned caterpillars in a smaller proportion to their nestlings, but the total amount of food per nestling (estimated by the volumes of all prey items) did not differ between habitats. In the two years with much lower reproductive success in urban than forest habitats, urban parents had higher provisioning rates, but provided more non-arthropod food and brought smaller prey items than forest parents. In the year with reduced habitat difference in reproductive success, urban parents were able to compensate for the scarcity of caterpillars by provisioning other arthropods rather than non-arthropod food, and by delivering larger preys than in the other years. Specifically, in this latter year, caterpillars provisioned by urban pairs were cc. twice as large as in the other two years, and were similar in size to caterpillars provisioned in the forest broods. These results show that although urban great tit parents can provide the same quantity of food per nestling as forest parents by reducing their brood size and increasing the per capita feeding rates for nestlings, they cannot compensate fully for the scarcity of high-quality preys (caterpillars) in poor years. In some years, however, favourable conditions for urban caterpillar development can greatly reduce food limitation in cities, allowing urban birds to achieve higher reproductive success. We suggest that urban green areas designed and managed in a way to facilitate conditions for phytophagous arthropods could improve habitat quality for urban birds.

Recent natural variability in global warming weakened phenological mismatch and selection on seasonal timing in great tits ( Parus major )

Climate change has led to phenological shifts in many species, but with large variation in magnitude among species and trophic levels. The poster child example of the resulting phenological mismatches between the phenology of predators and their prey is the great tit ( Parus major ), where this mismatch led to directional selection for earlier seasonal breeding. Natural climate variability can obscure the impacts of climate change over certain periods, weakening phenological mismatching and selection. Here, we show that selection on seasonal timing indeed weakened significantly over the past two decades as increases in late spring temperatures have slowed down. Consequently, there has been no further advancement in the date of peak caterpillar food abundance, while great tit phenology has continued to advance, thereby weakening the phenological mismatch. We thus show that the relationships between temperature, phenologies of prey and predator, and selection on predator phenology are robust, also in times of a slowdown of warming. Using projected temperatures from a large ensemble of climate simulations that take natural climate variability into account, we show that prey phenology is again projected to advance faster than great tit phenology in the coming decades, and therefore that long-term global warming will intensify phenological mismatches.

THE TIT NAMES IN SLAVIC AND FINNO-UGRIC LANGUAGES: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

The article presents bookish and dialect tit names in Slavic and Finno-Ugric languages. The Slavic and Finno-Ugric ornithonyms denoting the genus Parus on the whole or the great tit (Parus major L.) were taken as material for analysis. In total, data from 12 Slavic and 14 Finno-Ugric languages and their dialects were analyzed. During the research, the inner form and motivating features of the lexemes were determined, their etymology was revealed. It was found that the Slavic and Finno-Ugric tit names are based on various motivating features: its appearance and plumage color, singing, diet, habits, similarity with other birds, habitat. Herewith, the East and South Slavic bookish tit names have controversial etymology: they may have onomatopoeic or color-semantic origin. At the same time, onomatopoeic lexemes prevail in Finno-Ugric and West Slavic languages. This fact may be an argument in favour of onomatopoeic origin of the East and South Slavic tit names.

A comparison of the diet of urban and forest great tits in a Mediterranean habitat

The low breeding performance and body condition of nestling passerine birds in urban environments has been attributed to the poor quality and low abundance of food in these settings. However, detailed data on prey provided by parents to their chicks in the urban habitat is scarce. Here we used video cameras set in nest boxes to compare the diet of urban and forest great tits Parus major when provisioning their chicks in a Mediterranean area. We additionally analysed brood size and fledgling success. Breeding success of urban great tits was lower than that of forest birds. Urban parents displayed a lower average hourly feeding rate per nestling than forest parents. Among the three prey item categories, the percentage of spiders did not vary according to habitat. However, the percentage of caterpillars delivered to the nest by great tit parents was higher in the forest than in the urban habitat while the percentage of ‘other’ prey showed a reverse pattern. ‘Other’ prey were mainly adult butterflies and wasps in the urban habitat. Our paper adds to the view that the low feeding rates and scarcity of caterpillars in urban environments may be the underlying cause constraining the growth of great tit nestlings in these areas.

A higher incidence of moult–breeding overlap in great tits across time is linked to an increased frequency of second clutches: a possible effect of global warming?

The rise of temperatures due to global warming is related to a lengthening of the breeding season in many bird species. This allows more pairs to attempt two clutches within the breeding season, thus finishing their breeding activity later in the season and therefore potentially overlapping these with post–breeding moult. We tested whether this occurred in two Spanish great tit Parus major populations. The proportion of pairs laying second clutches increased from 1 % to 32 % over the study period in one of the populations (Sagunto, 1995–2019), while it did not change in the other (Quintos, 2006–2019; mean 5 %). We did not find any temporal trend for moult start date of late–breeding birds in any population. The proportion of individuals of both sexes that overlapped moult and breeding increased in Sagunto. For this latter population, sex and age, but not clutch type, contributed to the variability in the probability of overlapping in late–breeding individuals, this being higher for first–year males and lower for older females.

First Report of Passerilepis parina (Cestoda: Hymenolepididae) from Parus major in Iran: A Probable Fatal Case Due to Hyperin-fection

Cestodes are important parasites that can affect the health of humans and wildlife. Among these, the genus Passerilepis is an important endoparasite of Passeriform birds while poorly studied in Iran. During a parasitological field survey in central parts of Iran in 2018, thirty-two cestodes, as an obstructive intertwined mass, recovered from the intestine of a recently dead Parus major (great tit). Morphological characteristics of recovered cestodes were drawn carefully by a camera lucida equipped microscope and identification was carried out using standard keys. All of the collected cestodes were identified as P. parina. In the current study, we recorded P. parina from great tit for the first time in Iran.