Moulting in the wrong season? A house sparrow replacing a significant part of its plumage in winter

Extra moult episodes in wild passerines have rarely if ever been documented. Here, we report a case of a possible extra moult episode in a House Sparrow Passer domesticus, a species with just one moult per annual cycle. This bird was captured in active and intense plumage growth in Barcelona on 15 F...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Guallar, Santi, Quesada, Javier
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2072/521037
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/2072/521037
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Pardals
Passeriformes
Ocells
Plomes
Barcelona (Catalunya)
Catalunya
Espanya
59
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repository_id_str
spelling Moulting in the wrong season? A house sparrow replacing a significant part of its plumage in winterGuallar, SantiQuesada, JavierPardalsPasseriformesOcellsPlomesBarcelona (Catalunya)CatalunyaEspanya59Extra moult episodes in wild passerines have rarely if ever been documented. Here, we report a case of a possible extra moult episode in a House Sparrow Passer domesticus, a species with just one moult per annual cycle. This bird was captured in active and intense plumage growth in Barcelona on 15 February 2021, c. five months after it had been ringed whilst undergoing its post-juvenile moult. This possible extra moult episode involved all body tracts except the crural, all tail tracts, and most wing tracts except the underwing coverts, primaries, primary coverts and alula. We found no evidence that this plumage replacement was the final phase of an interrupted post-juvenile moult. Hypotheses that could explain this extraordinary plumage growth include a mutation affecting the endogenous rhythm of the bird, severe stress, endocrine disruption or a predation event. Although the replacement of the wing feathers was highly asymmetric, we interpret this case as an extra moult episode of unknown cause rather than plumage regrowth after accidental loss (e.g. by predation), given that this plumage growth was compatible with three characteristics of moult not expected during the replacement of accidentally lost plumage: (i) it affected the whole of the bird’s plumage, (ii) involved feathers such as the axillaries that are rarely exposed, and (iii) showed sequential rather than simultaneous feather growth.2021info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion8 p.application/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/2072/521037RECERCAT (Dipòsit de la Recerca de Catalunya)reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunyainstname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)InglésRevista catalana d’ornitologia, 37 (2021), p. 34-41info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:recercat.cat:2072/5210372026-05-29T05:05:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Moulting in the wrong season? A house sparrow replacing a significant part of its plumage in winter
title Moulting in the wrong season? A house sparrow replacing a significant part of its plumage in winter
spellingShingle Moulting in the wrong season? A house sparrow replacing a significant part of its plumage in winter
Guallar, Santi
Pardals
Passeriformes
Ocells
Plomes
Barcelona (Catalunya)
Catalunya
Espanya
59
title_short Moulting in the wrong season? A house sparrow replacing a significant part of its plumage in winter
title_full Moulting in the wrong season? A house sparrow replacing a significant part of its plumage in winter
title_fullStr Moulting in the wrong season? A house sparrow replacing a significant part of its plumage in winter
title_full_unstemmed Moulting in the wrong season? A house sparrow replacing a significant part of its plumage in winter
title_sort Moulting in the wrong season? A house sparrow replacing a significant part of its plumage in winter
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Guallar, Santi
Quesada, Javier
author Guallar, Santi
author_facet Guallar, Santi
Quesada, Javier
author_role author
author2 Quesada, Javier
author2_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Pardals
Passeriformes
Ocells
Plomes
Barcelona (Catalunya)
Catalunya
Espanya
59
topic Pardals
Passeriformes
Ocells
Plomes
Barcelona (Catalunya)
Catalunya
Espanya
59
description Extra moult episodes in wild passerines have rarely if ever been documented. Here, we report a case of a possible extra moult episode in a House Sparrow Passer domesticus, a species with just one moult per annual cycle. This bird was captured in active and intense plumage growth in Barcelona on 15 February 2021, c. five months after it had been ringed whilst undergoing its post-juvenile moult. This possible extra moult episode involved all body tracts except the crural, all tail tracts, and most wing tracts except the underwing coverts, primaries, primary coverts and alula. We found no evidence that this plumage replacement was the final phase of an interrupted post-juvenile moult. Hypotheses that could explain this extraordinary plumage growth include a mutation affecting the endogenous rhythm of the bird, severe stress, endocrine disruption or a predation event. Although the replacement of the wing feathers was highly asymmetric, we interpret this case as an extra moult episode of unknown cause rather than plumage regrowth after accidental loss (e.g. by predation), given that this plumage growth was compatible with three characteristics of moult not expected during the replacement of accidentally lost plumage: (i) it affected the whole of the bird’s plumage, (ii) involved feathers such as the axillaries that are rarely exposed, and (iii) showed sequential rather than simultaneous feather growth.
publishDate 2021
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2021
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/2072/521037
url http://hdl.handle.net/2072/521037
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Revista catalana d’ornitologia, 37 (2021), p. 34-41
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv 8 p.
application/pdf
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv RECERCAT (Dipòsit de la Recerca de Catalunya)
reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
instname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
instname_str Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
reponame_str Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
collection Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
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repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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