Restricted movements and high site fidelity in three East African cloud-forest birds

Abstract

Abstract:Species with specific habitat requirements often remain within their habitat and are characterized by a very sedentary behaviour. We used radio-tracking during a 3-wk campaign to investigate the home ranges and movements of three East African passerine bird species, all adapted to cloud-forest habitats: montane white-eye Zosterops poliogaster mbuluensis, stripe-cheeked greenbul Andropadus milanjensis and white-starred robin Pogonocichla stellata macarthuri. Individuals were observed in a forest-grassland mosaic on top of Chyulu Hills, south Kenya. Based on 15 individuals with a total of 1041 fixes, we found (1) that all three species show a sedentary behaviour restricted to their home forest patch; (2) least activity during the afternoon; and (3) re-colonization into its home patch after translocation into a nearby forest patch. Our findings underline that forest-specialist bird species of the tropics show high site fidelity despite their potential movement ability.