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- Title
Sex and Age Determination of the Eurasian Coal Tit (Periparus ater, Passeriformes, Paridae) Using Anatomical and Morphological Characteristics of the Wing.
- Authors
Mitropolskiy, M. G.
- Abstract
Virtually no studies have been carried out involving cases of mass bird mortality, although this is a unique opportunity to conduct populational studies using representative material, samples of which clearly belong to one population. Such a study would make it possible to establish the age and sex of dead birds, which is of great importance when studying the condition of the population and predicting the numbers. However, there are problems in the choice of methods to apply. The techniques proposed in the literature do not always allow for such studies to be performed. In recent years, we have developed and applied a method for determining the sex and age using the humerus. The complex morphometric indicators of the humerus allow for a high degree of confidence for such studies to be conducted. A combination of our method with those proposed earlier in the literature using morphological features is complementary and clarifies the picture. Thus, we have compiled the ranges of the limiting values of the total wing length and the morphometric parameters of the humerus separately for females and males, both young and adults, of the nominative subspecies of the Eurasian Coal Tit (Periparus ater ater Linnaeus 1758), based on a careful analysis of the anatomical and morphological characteristics of the wing. Altogether, 75 females and 23 males were used in the analysis. These were birds that had flown into the glass showcases of office buildings in downtown Nizhniy Novgorod City during the first ten days in September 2018. Using the above integrated approach to the determination of the sex and age of dead birds, results with up to 97% confidence could be obtained, thus making it possible to supplement the available data on sex-linked wing length ratios of the Eurasian Coal Tit. Since an analysis of the wing lengths showed this trait to be universal throughout the distribution area of the nominative subspecies, our studies can be used to assess the state of the species' populations in other parts of the range as well.
- Subjects
NIZHNII Novgorod (Russia); SUBSPECIES; BIRD mortality; COAL; PASSERIFORMES; HUMERUS; OFFICE buildings; FEATHERS
- Publication
Biology Bulletin, 2021, Vol 48, Issue 7, p1079
- ISSN
1062-3590
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1134/S1062359021070219