Ornamental non-carotenoid red feathers of wild burrowing parrots

JUAN F. MASELLO; MARÍA LUJÁN PAGNOSSIN; THOMAS LUBJUHN; PETRA QUILLFELDT

ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH

SPRINGER TOKYO

Lugar: Tokyo; Año: 2004 p. 421 - 432

0912-3814

Bird plumage colors have the potential to indicate individual quality, condition, health, immunocompetence, or the extend of parental care. Color intensity of feathers has been found to correlate withparameters of individual quality, condition, parental care and breeding success. Psittaciformes are wellknown for their colorful plumage but the significance of parrot coloration is still poorly understood. Redcolors are very common in many parrot species. They are produced by at least four non-carotenoid-basedpigments (linear polyenal structure). In the present study, we investigated a collection of red abdominalfeathers of a marked population of wild Burrowing Parrots Cyanoliseus patagonusin Patagonia, Argentina.The aims of this study were to investigate the ecological significance of the recently described noncarotenoid-based red pigments of Psittaciformes, and the relationships between objectively assessedplumage color and body size, body condition, breeding success and nestling growth in wild Psittaciformes.We found that sexes differed in plumage coloration (sexual dichromatism), that plumage color was a goodpredictor of female body condition and male size, and we identified the red coloration of the abdominalpatch as a signal of individual quality and parental investment.