White-winged Diuca Finch (Diuca speculifera) Nesting on Quelccaya Ice Cap, Perú

We found evidence of birds nesting directly on glacier ice of the Quelccaya Ice Cap in the Cordillera Vilcanota, Perú at elevations up to 5,300 m. Observations during June and July over several years consisted of numerous nests not in situ having obviously fallen from the steep and dynamic, retreati...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Wilson journal of ornithology 2008-09, Vol.120 (3), p.613-617
Main Authors: Hardy, Douglas R., Hardy, Spencer P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal nesting
Aviculture
Behavior
Bird nesting
Bird nests
Birds
Climate change
Eggs and nests
Environmental conditions
Feathers
Field study
Finches
Fringillidae
Glacial ablation
Glacial accumulation
Glaciers
Ice
Ice caps
Natural history
Nesting sites
Short Communications
Sparrows
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We found evidence of birds nesting directly on glacier ice of the Quelccaya Ice Cap in the Cordillera Vilcanota, Perú at elevations up to 5,300 m. Observations during June and July over several years consisted of numerous nests not in situ having obviously fallen from the steep and dynamic, retreating glacier margin. A typical nest was a bulky structure of grass and twigs with a dry mass of 160 g. The inner cup was nicely formed and lined with fine grass, measuring 6–7 cm in diameter and 4–5 cm deep. Feathers and entire wings of White-winged Diuca Finch (Diuca speculifera) were observed in association with the nests; this was the passerine species most commonly seen in the area. The evidence indicates the glacier nests were built and used by White-winged Diuca Finch, probably during the Austral autumn when on-site automated measurements indicate the wet season ends and air temperatures have not yet decreased. This is the first well-documented case of high-elevation avian nesting on glacier ice.
ISSN:1559-4491
1938-5447
DOI:10.1676/06-165.1