SAP CONSUMPTION BY THE WHITE-FRONTED WOODPECKER AND ITS ROLE IN AVIAN ASSEMBLAGE STRUCTURE IN DRY FORESTS

NUÑEZ MONTELLANO MG; BLENDINGER PG; MACCHI L

THE CONDOR

COOPER ORNITHOLOGICAL SOC

Año: 2013 vol. 115 p. 93 - 101

0010-5422

The White-fronted Woodpecker (Melanerpes cactorum) drills holes in branches and trunks to feed on sap flows, providing an energy-rich food resource for other birds. Here we describe ecological and behavioral traits of the White-fronted Woodpecker related to its sap-feeding habits in the semiarid Chaco of Argentina and explore the structure of the avian assemblage in relation to the sap resource. Sap consumption by the White-fronted Woodpecker and other sap-feeding species was strongly seasonal and positively associated with periods of resource scarcity. The White-fronted Woodpecker actively defended the sap wells from smaller birds. Specialist and facultative nectarivores that assimilate sucrose at a high rate represented an important proportion of sap-feeding birds. In this system of woodpecker, sap, and other sap-feeding species, each species? consumption depends on its physiological and behavioral characteristics as well as on the availability of other food in the surrounding environment.