Abstract

GROSSELET, Manuel; NOCHEBUENA JARAMILLO, Jonathan Ruben; RODRIGUEZ RAMOS, Gerardo  and  RUIZ MICHAEL, Georgita. Extent of the preformative moult in the Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens) from individuals captured during the fall migration in southern Veracruz, Mexico. Huitzil [online]. 2014, vol.15, n.1, pp.31-36. ISSN 1870-7459.

Studies on moult strategy of Neotropical birds have become more relevant since the publication of specialized guides; however, knowledge in this field is still scarce. Most studies have been performed with small samples sizes of less than 100 individuals. For this study we have chosen Icteria virens, a widely studied and amply distributed North American species. We analysed a sample of 626 hatch year individuals. We carried out this study in the south of the Gulf of Mexico with northern migratory populations, possibly from the east side of the continent, according to morphometric characteristics of the tarsus and based on a recent recapture. The results show clear differences with regard to what had been previously reported on the development of preformative moult. We suggest that this process varies according to the geographical origin of the birds and shows that the description of the moult should be based on a large sample of individuals. This paper proposes that further studies on moult strategy should focus on populations moving along similar migratory flyways, in order to assess the performance of each sub-population, and estimate the moult strategy among populations of eastern and western North American Yellow-breasted Chat.

Keywords : plumage; Parulidae; first year.

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