Capricious mountain weather: a driving variable in hummingbird territorial dynamics

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A violent summer hailstorm destroyed a large proportion of flowers in one of several meadows in a small mountain basin. This decimation of the resource base resulted in a dramatic decrease in the number of fall migrant rufous hummingbirds holding territories there, supporting the hypothesis that hummingbird populations closely track their food supplies. We found no evidence that the individuals displaced by the hailstorm established territories in neighboring meadows, and we therefore concluded that these individuals were forced into suboptimal habitats nearby or emigrated from the basin.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: