Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

A study was carried out to investigate different gender roles in the Northwestern Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis ispida). This species lives along moving bodies of water with available underbrush and sandbanks, the banks being where the nesting tunnel is dug out. Two questions were used as guidelines for the study: “What behaviours are observable in a kingfisher female and male respectively at a breeding site in April?” and “How does the frequency of different behaviours differ between a female and male kingfisher at a breeding site in April?”. The study was conducted at Fyrisån river in Uppsala, Sweden, where kingfishers famously breed annually. During the preparations, one male was found breeding with two different females at two different nests almost 300 metres apart. During the preparations, one nest was picked out for the study. During the study, the birds’ different behaviours and their frequency were registered. The registrations were based on an ethogram and were noted via continuous observations. Binoculars, a telescope, and a clicker counting mechanism were used. Six visits were made throughout April, with each visit lasting somewhere between two and three hours. The total observation time was 14 hours. The visits were made either at dawn, in the forenoon or midday. Not all predicted behaviours were observed. The results of the two birds were compared, and it was clear that for some behaviours, there were clear differences in the gender roles. The male regularly fed the female just outside the nest, but she never fed him, which correlates with what the literature predicts. Barely any foraging behaviours were observed at the breeding site. The foraging was thus assumed to be done elsewhere. Both genders were indirectly observed digging when they left the nest with a muddy beak. The male and female visited the nest the same number of times. The male left the nest with a muddy beak more often than the female did, which could be explained by him being the main digger and her doing most of the finer details, as suggested by literature. Both genders bathed almost immediately after leaving the nest, which the male did a few more times than the female. No flight chases or territorial battles were observed, which, in contrast, is described in the literature. This is believed to either be caused by the study being conducted in a part of the breeding season where these behaviours are not common or simply by the behaviours being rare in general. Mating was observed two times, only between the male and the one female in the study, and only during the first visit. No other individuals of kingfisher were observed during the study, not even the neighbouring female, which could be explained by the territories already having been defined earlier in the season. The study hopes to inspire future research to further investigate the kingfishers’ ecology to benefit the conservation of this threatened species.