Mora Y A, Sheldon S, Carrero J, Farabaugh S M, Sustaita D
Department of Biological Sciences, California State University San Marcos, 333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Rd, San Marcos, CA 92096, USA.
Recovery Ecology, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, 15600 San Pasqual Valley Rd, Escondido, CA 92027, USA.
Integr Org Biol. 2024 Dec 27;7(1):obae042. doi: 10.1093/iob/obae042. eCollection 2025.
Loggerhead shrikes () are medium-sized predatory songbirds that feed on arthropods and vertebrates. Prior to attacking their prey, shrikes have been observed performing "wing-flashing" behavior, consisting of rapid fluttering of the wings that seems to emphasize the white patches on their dorsal surfaces. We sought to quantify this behavior by analyzing videos of San Clemente loggerhead shrikes attacking insect and vertebrate prey, to understand whether and how wing-flashing affects prey capture performance. We measured predictors of wing-flashing behavior, wing-flashing kinematics, and prey capture performance in terms of the number of strikes required to kill prey, prey strike durations, prey escape distances, and prey survival probabilities. Juveniles were more likely to perform wing-flashing behavior than adults, and lizards elicited wing-flashing more than mice and crickets. Adult males tended to flash their wings faster than juvenile males, and although wing-flashing rates were similar between ages for females and across prey types (∼15 Hz), shrikes flashed their wings for longer durations toward lizards. Wing-flashing was generally associated with fewer strikes to kill prey and resulted in longer prey strike durations for adult shrikes, longer prey escape distances, and lower prey survival probabilities for male shrikes. Our results suggest that wing-flashing behavior of loggerhead shrikes enhances their prey capture performance, possibly by stimulating prey to move-and not to move, depending on prey type-making them more vulnerable to predatory strikes.
赤胸朱顶雀是中型食肉鸣禽，以节肢动物和脊椎动物为食。在攻击猎物之前，人们观察到朱顶雀会表现出“翅膀闪动”行为，即翅膀快速扑动，这似乎突出了它们背部的白色斑块。我们试图通过分析圣克莱门特岛赤胸朱顶雀攻击昆虫和脊椎动物猎物的视频来量化这种行为，以了解翅膀闪动是否以及如何影响猎物捕获性能。我们从杀死猎物所需的攻击次数、猎物攻击持续时间、猎物逃脱距离和猎物存活概率等方面测量了翅膀闪动行为、翅膀闪动运动学和猎物捕获性能的预测指标。幼鸟比成年鸟更有可能表现出翅膀闪动行为，蜥蜴比老鼠和蟋蟀更能引发翅膀闪动。成年雄鸟翅膀闪动的速度往往比幼年雄鸟快，尽管雌鸟在不同年龄之间以及不同猎物类型之间的翅膀闪动频率相似（约15赫兹），但朱顶雀对蜥蜴翅膀闪动的持续时间更长。翅膀闪动通常与杀死猎物所需的攻击次数减少有关，并且成年朱顶雀的猎物攻击持续时间更长、猎物逃脱距离更长，雄朱顶雀的猎物存活概率更低。我们的结果表明，赤胸朱顶雀的翅膀闪动行为提高了它们的猎物捕获性能，可能是通过刺激猎物移动——或者不移动，这取决于猎物类型——使它们更容易受到捕食性攻击。
