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Roosting behaviour of the endangered Sichuan Hill-partridge Arborophila rufipectus during the breeding season

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2008

Wenbo Liao
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Jinchu Hu
Affiliation:
Institute of Rare Animal and Plant, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637002, China
Cao Li
Affiliation:
Department of Life Science and Technology, Yibing College, Yibing 644007, China
Xin Lu*
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
*
*Author for correspondance; e-mail: luxinwh@163.com
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Abstract

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Roosting behaviour in diurnal ground-dwelling birds is important to their conservation as they are particularly vulnerable to predation when on their roosts. In 2005, we studied the roosting behaviour of the globally ‘Endangered’ Sichuan Hill-partridge (Arborophila rufipectus) in Laojunshan Nature Reserve, southwest China, a site dominated by evergreen broadleaf forest. Our study showed that the birds roosted on elevated perches and roosting behaviour was associated with social organization. Breeding males roosted alone within their territories before mating or during the female's involvement in incubation, but at other times they roosted with the female bird. After hatching of the brood, the adult males roosted on the ground close to the brooding female for about two weeks. After this time the male left the female and chicks to roost elsewhere in the territory. High vegetation cover around the perch site was a key predictor of roosting sites for the partridges. Only six out of 84 tree and shrub species were typically used by the roosting birds, although individual roosting plants varied from night to night. The median height of roosting plants was 6.9 (3.8–10.5) m, which was significantly lower than many shrubs within the breeding territory. Perches were 1.7–6.4 (median = 2.7) m from the ground and independent of roost tree height, suggesting an optimum roosting height. The partridges preferred roosting sites with denser shrub vegetation. In terms of the species' conservation, our results highlight the importance of protecting primary forest that contains suitable roosting trees and shrubs.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Birdlife International 2008