Moult and Aging in European Passerines - Hardcover

Jenni, Lukas; Winkler, Raffael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 012384150X ISBN 13: 9780123841506

Publisher: Academic Pr, 1994

Synopsis

The moult strategies of birds are not only of importance in their impact on a species' ecology and energetics, but as a valuable tool for anyone studying the migration and population dynamics of bird species. A proper understanding of how feathers are replaced, and the precise differences in appearance of the various feather generations, can allow ringers, scientists and the keen birdwatcher to age first-year and adult birds and to detect the moult strategy of the bird in question.
Lukas Jenni and Raffael Winkler have combined these themes and produced a book which will be valuable both to the professional ornithologist and the bird ringer.
The first part gives an up to date summary of the moult strategies and moult sequences of European passerines and discusses the ecological consequences of moult. Throughout the book, the authors draw on the enormous amount of data on moult collected by them over 15 years of study which, combined with data from the literature, allow them to present a new synthesis of the subject.
The second part of the book is of particular value to ringers. Following a general introduction to ageing, detailed moult profiles are given for 58 species of European passerines representing all the major moult strategies, backed up with useful summary statistics, schematic diagrams of the extent of moult and indications of the variation within each species. For the first time, the extent of partial and suspended moults is presented in detail.
The crowing feature of this book is the 480 plus full colour photographs of extended wings which show the entire range of moult patterns and of plumage ageing criteria. An appendix gives supplementary information on ageing birds by the degree of pneumatization of the skull.
This book is both a major reference for onithologists, zoologists, bird ringers and dedicated birdwatchers, and a work of great scholarship and beauty.

Key Features
* Over 480 colour photos showing moult of wing feathers in 58 European passerine species
* New synthesis of the factors controlling moult biology
* Summarizes 15 years of systematically collected data
* A vital reference for bird ringers

About this title

About the Author:

Lukas Jenni was born in Basel, Switzerland, in 1955 and became interested in birds as a boy. While studying zoology, botany, geology and chemistry at Basel University, he became a volunteer at the Swiss Ornithological Institute and a ringer at Col de Bretolet, where his interest in moult and ageing arose while working with Raffael Winkler. He graduated with a study on the morphology and ecology of Great and Middle Spotted Woodpeckers. In 1979, he became head of the Swiss ringing scheme at the Swiss Ornithological Institute and gained his PhD in zoology with a study on the mass concentrations of Bramblings in winder in 1984. His main research interests are in ecology and the physiology of bird migration, as well as in moult biology.

Raffael Winkler was born in 1949 in Basel, Switzerland. Interested in birds since his early childhood, a stay at the Station Biolgique de la Tour du Valat in the Camargue convinced him to study zoology. At the University of Basel he attended lectures in zoology, botany, paleontology and psychology and graduated with a Ph.D. thesis on the pneumatization of the skull roof in birds. The data for this study were collected at the ringing station at Col de Bretolet in the Swiss Alps, where he also began a close co-operation with Lukas Jenni in the fields of passerine moult, aging and bird migration. From 1975 to 1980 Raffael was employed at the Swiss Ornithological Institute, managing the avifaunal information centre and cultivating contacts with amateur birdwatchers. During this time he was secretary of the Swiss Rarities Committee and worked on the Atlas of Breeding Birds in Switzerland. In 1980 he was elected curator of the bird collection at the Natural History Museum, Basel. Since then, he has edited the Avifauna of Switzerland and carried on the Museum's own tradition in moult research.

Review:

"This is a superbly produced, large format reference work which succeeds on both academic and aesthetic levels."
--BTO NEWS

About this edition

• Publisher: Academic Pr
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 012384150X
• ISBN 13: 9780123841506
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256