In this thesis, I present in captivity and in the field, experimental tests based on innovative feeding to a group of seven opportunistic avian species in Barbados. In chapter 1, I present an example of innovative feeding anecdotes by describing for the first time bread "hunting" and kleptoparasitisim at experimental patches by the Gray Kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis). In chapter 2, I compare three Passeriforme (the Carib Grackle, Quiscalus lugubris; the Shiny Cowbird, Molothrus bonariensis; the Lesser-Antillean Bullfinch, Loxigilla noctis) and two Columbiforme species (the Zenaida Dove, Zenaida aurita, the Common Ground Dove, Columbina passerina ) on three measures of foraging flexibility presented in the field and in captivity: habituation to mew food patches, willingness to feed near unfamiliar objects (neophobia) and ability to obtain food from a new apparatus. In chapter 3, the two nectar-feeding species in the opportunistic "guild" of Barbados, the bullfinch and the Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola), were given a neophobia test in the field, using dissolved sugar as food. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.30767 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Webster, Sandra J. |
| Contributors | Lefebvre, Louis (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Biology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001763829, proquestno: MQ64478, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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