List of Titles

Special issue on moult in African birds

Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Erni, Birgit
Date: 2023
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/449566 , vital:74830 , https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.2989/00306525.2023.2289255
Description: All birds need to replace worn and damaged feathers on a regular basis. Replacement of the flight feathers (remiges and rectrices) is particularly critical, since these influence the efficiency of flight, which in turn has a direct impact on foraging success, parental care and predator evasion. The remiges and rectrices are by far the largest individual feathers, and thus make up a large proportion of the feather mass that must be replaced. During the moult period, a bird must produce new feather material while coping with a reduction in insulation and waterproofing as well as potentially compromised flight ability. Consequently, the moult period is a critical element in the annual cycle, and its timing should minimise any negative effects on survival and reproduction.
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Date Issued: 2023

A population genetics study of Pale-winged Starlings, Onychognathus nabouroup, using novel microsatellite markers

- Munshi, Naadhira, Symes, Craig, Maayer, Pieter de, Craig, Adrian J F K, Henry, Laurence, Hausberger, Martine, Mollett, Jean

Authors: Munshi, Naadhira , Symes, Craig , Maayer, Pieter de , Craig, Adrian J F K , Henry, Laurence , Hausberger, Martine , Mollett, Jean
Date: 2021
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/448718 , vital:74754 , https://www.ajol.info/index.php/scopus/article/view/211291
Description: Recent research into starling species has revealed the existence of vocal social markers and a link between song temporal structuring and social organisation. The aim of the present study was to develop a genetic tool for understanding the population structuring and behaviour (social/parental transmission) and mating in Pale-winged Starlings (Onychognathus nabouroup), a songbird which is found in arid areas of southern Africa. Using next-generation sequencing, microsatellite markers comprising six dinucleotides, eighteen trinucleotides and twenty-four tetra-nucleotides specific to the Pale-winged Starling were isolated and developed. A total of 77 birds were sampled from the Augrabies Falls Nature Reserve in South Africa (n= 53) and the Ai Ais-Richtersveld Transfrontier Park resort in Namibia (n= 24), respectively. Fifteen polymorphic microsatellite markers were genotyped. The statistical programme STRUCTURE revealed four different genetic clusters within the two populations.
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Date Issued: 2021

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Iris colour changes and behaviour in the Three-streaked Tchagra Tchagra jamesi: an observation from the past

- Craig, Adrian J F K

Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K
Date: 2021
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/449851 , vital:74857 , https://www.ajol.info/index.php/scopus/article/view/211291
Description: The African bush-shrikes (Malaconotidae) are one of the bird families in which a significant number of species have a distinctively coloured iris (Craig and Hulley 2004). However, in this review paper we overlooked both the description of the Threestreaked Tchagra Tchagra jamesi in two standard handbooks (Archer and Godman 1961, Pearson 2000), and some published observations by a well-known East African ornithologist, VGL van Someren. Changes in pupil size, or in iris coloration, seem to be close-range signals which are not often obvious to a human spectator—they are presumably directed at conspecific birds who are likely to be less than 1 m away. Some instances have thus been reported by bird-ringers with the bird in the hand (eg, Black-bellied Starling Notopholia corusca, McCulloch 1963, Britton and Britton 1970). However, keen observers and especially photographers may be alert to such subtle changes in appearance.
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Date Issued: 2021

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Birders of Africa: History of a network

- Craig, Adrian J F K

Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K
Date: 2016
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465317 , vital:76594 , https://doi.org/10.1080/0035919X.2016.1176081
Description: Opening with an account of the Greater Honeyguide and its long association with man in Africa, this book sets the scene for a new historical approach to how ornithology with its northern hemisphere traditions has interacted with information provided by African people. The title Birders of Africa suggests a wider readership than the academic target audience. ‘Birder’ in current popular usage implies recreational birders, who often focus on cataloguing and collecting experiences and photographs, rather than physical specimens in the tradition of many characters in this book. Readers who might categorise themselves as ‘birders’ would likely be discouraged by an introduction with quotations from theories relating to the asymmetries of knowledge, though they could find much of interest elsewhere in the text. The introduction needs to be read with close attention, since Nancy Jacobs sets out clearly her choice of terminology and the aims of her approach to the subject.
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Date Issued: 2016

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Evolutionary trends in southern African glossy starlings (Lamprotornis)

- Craig, Adrian J F K

Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K
Date: 2000
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465369 , vital:76598 , https://doi.org/10.1080/00306525.2000.9639921
Description: In southern African six Lamprotornis species occur in savanna woodland. Locally up to five species may be sympatric, dependent on similar food sources and sharing roost sites. All are obligate tree-hole nesters. Morphological differences concern signal structures (tail length and shape, iris coloration, wing notches) rather than adaptations for feeding. There is very little sexual dimorphism, and when body size is accounted for, there are no significant inter- or intra-specific differences in bill dimensions. The long-tailed L. mevesii and L. australis are probably sister taxa, which evolved in southern Africa. L. nitens and L. acuticaudus are also likely to be southern African in origin, whereas L. chalybaeus and L. chloropterus may have evolved to the north, with their current distribution in southern Africa a consequence of later range expansion. Similar modifications of signal structures in sympatric species are evident in northern glossy starlings.
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Date Issued: 2000

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Testing chemical markers on granivorous birds

- Steele, G R, Whittington-Jones, Craig A, Craig, Adrian J F K

Authors: Steele, G R , Whittington-Jones, Craig A , Craig, Adrian J F K
Date: 1999
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6936 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011957
Description: We tested two substances (oxytetracycline and rhodamine B) that can be added to food or water of free-living birds, and serve as markers in their plumage for later identification. Oxytetracycline produced no detectable changes in the plumage of red bishops or redbilled queleas. Rhodamine B fed to captive birds produced fluorescence in the wing feathers when viewed under ultraviolet light. This fluorescence lasted for at least 14 weeks, and was retained until feathers were moulted. Rhodamine B may thus be useful in identifying birds using a specific feeding site, and for studies of moult and feather growth.
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Date Issued: 1999

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A consequence of nectar feeding?

- Craig, Adrian J F K, Hulley, Patrick E

Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Hulley, Patrick E
Date: 1996
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465245 , vital:76586 , https://sora.unm.edu/node/52068
Description: Cape White-eyes (Zosterops pallidus) frequently feed on nectar during early winter. This feeding can leave feathers on the forehead matted with nectar and pollen. At least some individuals then shed these feathers, at a time when the annual complete molt has already been terminated. It is suggested that such localized replacement of fouled plumage may occur regularly both in white-eyes and in other short-billed nectar-feeder.
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Date Issued: 1996

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Speciation, adaptation and interspecific competition

- Walter, Grenville H, Hulley, Patrick E, Craig, Adrian J F K

Authors: Walter, Grenville H , Hulley, Patrick E , Craig, Adrian J F K
Date: 1984
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465486 , vital:76613 , https://doi.org/10.2307/3544775
Description: The species concept and current ideas on speciation are relevant to the debate on the significance of competition theory in community ecology. The speciation event and the subsequent post-speciation history of a species must be distinguished when applying competition theory. For post-speciation events we draw the important distinction between local and species-wide adaptations attributed to the action of competition. These ideas have the following consequences for community ecology. (1) Competition may have a limited evolutionary role at speciation. It is one of the possible factors that influence adaptation in the small isolated populations that are the major, or only, source of new species. This would occur where competition is sustained because of a consistent limiting resource such as space for sessile animals. (2) Once a new species comes under stabilising selection and expands, competition can produce only local and relatively minor adaptations. The acquisition of species-wide characteristics because of competition requires an improbable set of conditions. (3) The concept of an "organised" community, particularly if it carries evolutionary connotations, is unrealistic.
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Date Issued: 1984

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