How ageing birds? Chilean Elaenia as an example for the Neotropical bird species

GOROSITO, C.A.; CEREGHETTI, J.; CUETO, V.R.

Ornithology Research

Springer

Año: 2020

Determiningthe age of birds is important to understand the demographic dynamic, since theeffects of mortality factors may depend on the age of the individuals. Severalmethods have been used to determine the age of many European and North Americanbird species, but little is known about ageing in Neotropical birds. The aim ofour research was to evaluate the method for ageing Chilean Elaenia (Elaenia chilensis) through individualsof known age. We used the palate color and feather molt limits of individualsof known age, together with the previously available proposals for ageing thisspecies to propose a new criterion for determining the age of Chilean Elaenias.Our criterion makes possible to differentiate adult individuals in the first,second and third year since their born. We consider that our proposal willallow to advance towards more detailed research on the population dynamics ofbird species in South America.