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Tap patiently, hit safely: a preying tactic of the White Woodpecker on social wasp nests by Sazima, Ivan is a Environmental Science article available to read on EtoBox.

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Very few bird species attack bee and wasp colonies to feed on the brood and honey of these stinging, nest-defending insects. The most iconic plunderers of wasp and bee nests are the Honey Buzzards, species of the Old World accipitrid genus Pernis (Thiollay 1994). These birds boldly attack wasp or bee colonies, break a comb piece and fly away to feed on the brood (Figure 1a). Alternatively, they consume the brood on the spot or carry comb pieces to feed their nestlings (Thiollay 1994, Bhardwaj 2008). A less known wasp nest marauder is the Redthroated Caracara (Ibycter americanus), a New World falcon (White et al. 1994). This raptor makes bold and quick nest-damaging attacks to drive the wasps away (McCann et al. 2013), and once the nest defenders are gone the bird feeds on the brood (Figure 1b). Conversely, this falcon breaks pieces of the nest and feeds on the brood and adults on the pieces fallen to the ground (Sick 1997). Besides these two raptor genera, there is another pillager on wasp and bee nests: the White Woodpecker (Melanerpes candidus), a species confined to South America (Winkler & Christie 2002). This bird is long known as a wasp nest marauder feeding on the brood and

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Author

Sazima, Ivan

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Published

2014

Language

EN

Field

Environmental Science (Physical Sciences)