rssN (,127-4126 Vol )()(\t 2OOA
T h e J o u r n a l o f
WTLDLIFE
and PARKS
JounNer. Or Wrr-olnp Arro Pems, (2008) 25: 12-15
Norn ON Marruc Bpruvron On Tun Enrnln-Nnsr Swrrrr,rr (Annonnalrus FucrpHAGUs)
*Azman Othman & Siti Hawa yatim
Biodiversity_Conservation Division, Departunent of Wildlife and National parks (DWNp), Peninsular Malaysia, KM l0 Jalan Cheras, 56100 Kuala Lumpur.
*Coresponding author email: [email protected]
ABsrRAcr - Srudy on the mating behavior of rhe Edibre-nesr s,Niftre-s (Aerodramus fuciphasust usrng o'ect observatron was conducted at a bird house in sepang. selangor on rtre 26" dntil)t.i December 20o8. Photographs of lhe activities were taken and sbrte? accordjns to matins sequences.
Inere were- tour mattng stages identified in this _study namely: chasing. apfroaching.-mating and sepa.raring. Maring behavior in the ajr took about t5 mi;utes-
Keywords - Aerodramus fuciphagt s, mating behaviour, obseryation.
ABSTRAK.- Perilaku mengawan burung rayang-rayang gua rAerodramus fuciphasus) terah dikaii oan orreKooKan
selangor pada 20 hingga
dengan kaedah pemerhatian2 r Diiember 2008.
secaracambar-Eamti,,ii.irt
langsung di kawasanai"','Lii. al""Jirir"*-"#ili',i
ruma6 buiung di Sepani.*:l"fl,:Tqiy:,i 9, l9T l.t.+ drperolehi. Terdapar empar peringtar peritaku berjaya dikenalpasri lflrilJiililT,iJt#T; m€ndekatr. mengawan dan pemisahan. Jangkamasa proses mengawan yang
Kata kunci - Aerodramus fucipiagas, perilaku mengawan, pemerhatian.
The mating processes of the Edible-nest Swiftlet (Acrodrqmus
fudphagus) is one aspect of behaviour which have yel to be documented.
No published descriprion are available so far to describe this procesi. Most of the descriDtions came fuom the bird house operalors \^ho have observed the process (Cranbrook and. Lim, ZOO2I Budiman,2006). Some operators claimed thai the.mating_process of this species occurs in flight and also while nesting {Nugroho and Whendra'io,
1996: Fahmin. 2008r. Theriiore. rhe objeclive of this research is to record aerial matins-behavior of A. faciphagus. Direct observation wis done at the study site to detail out the mating sequences of this species in-flight.
Direct observation method was done at a bird
firh pond. Leucaena trees or '.petai belalang"
(.Leucaena leucocephalat were also abundantiy found around the -house
which attracted a lot of insects. A fish pond located 500 m to the bird house provides water for the birds. The observation was conducted from the 20,h until 2l"r December 2008. The weather at the study site was also noted. Recording was done from 0730 hours to | 900 hours by using a Nikon D300 camera wirh 70-300 mm l:4 - 5.6G lens. Each frame was lhen analyzed and isolated.
Ma^ting behavior during flight by \wifllet\ from drllerenl genera has been srudied by several researchers. del Hoyo et al. (1999) studied the aerial mating behavior of Common Swift (Apas
Orrryll & SIn / MATNG BEHAVIoR OF THE EDBLE-NEsr SwTFLET
TABLE 1
Stages of mating process of the Edible-nest Swiftlet (Aerodramus fuciphagus ).
Time (minute) Mating Process
14 1 5 1.
4.
First Stage Chasing Second stage Closing Third Stage Mating Fou h Stage
forward plunge. The male rapidly follows and as the female levels out into a hodzontal flight on quivering wings, the male will attempt to mount tire femie in i shallow gliding descent. Mating occurs several times with the altitude plays an imponant pan lor successful madng.
Unlike the American White-throated Swift (Aeronqutes saxatalis), del Hoyo et al. (1999) discovered that mating behavior starts when the Dair flies directly towards each other, unite and ihen "pin-wheel" fowards the ground for several seconds. Aerial mating behavior was also studied on the African Palm Swifts (C1rysiurus panus) by van Celder ( 1996) who observed individuals (imbling out of the same palm tree 22 times within 30 minutes, locked together and spiraling like a winged seed. The birds broke from physical contact just above the ground and then circled back into the palm fronds to staxt again.
Based on our observation on A, fuciphagus, fotn distinct mating stages were identified namely; (1) chasing (2) closing (3) mating, and (4) separation Al1 the stases took an estimated time of 1 5 minutes. Fi[ure 1-4 demonstrate the sequences of mating process according to the four stages as documented using the still camera. Mating process started with the chasing stage. Several males were obsewed chasing a female and during this stage, a sharp chipping call was vocalized. In birds, chjpping call. were u(ered frequently especially during breeding season and each vocalizal.ion can determine the types of behavior and the birds taxonomy (del Hoyo et a1., 1999; Budiman, 2006;
Fahmin, 2008). The study on the Common Swift (ADus aDus) showed that the male utters a "ree"
scieam ind Lhe female produced a high-pitched
"swee". As a result, together they both produced the distinctive call "swee-ree" (Kaiser, 1997).
FIGURE 1
Stage 1 - Mating process starts with the chasing stase between several males and a female.
Everitually, only one male will be accepted by the female.
13
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\
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\ \ o L r l d cnsLlrc succcs\l'LLl l r r c c ( l i I g
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Stngc.l Malc sttfted 10 scl closc to thc tinlitlc.
[\latrfl Ir'occ..s slltftcd \\ hcn th!' ntlle p()silionc,d l t i n t s c l l abole llre lrntirlc.
r \ \ l u ( l ) b) I ischcr { l()58) on llrc bleeding b c l r L , r r ( J I ( hirlncl Srilt l(ltttttttnr ltLlttgittt) r l c s c r i b c r l lt Lr l)llitsc\ in\ olve(l in tltj chasing
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I l r c c l r l r p h l r r c took pllicc dLuing :rrntrlcr u hoe , . i t , , t . r l . \ : t . t , j \ t ,. l, r ,_,r,,,r1,..,,1 l , t i . 1 t . ' ' | . r' r, .. . rr i r,lir , r..rl. ll r. *.1..r-, ri.,ir ( ) a ( ' r L n . t l a\ il l)fclllU-ilti()lt l i r r . t l t e ' s t I c l t r 0 n i z e r l
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\ i t e e l t o N i ( l \ l l t e g f o L td itn(l
\ L ' l - r i l | l r L a . l h a \ l t n t c hclrai ior ltas alsrr ot)ser ! c o o n t h c \ l r i c l t Palrl Suilis l('\.1)\iunt\ /).1/t1r\) (\,iln ( ic ltlcr. l()9(r).
r4
OTHMAN & Sr / MATING BEHAVIoR OF THe EoIBI-e-Nnst SwIFI-er
FIGURE 4
Stage 4 - Sepantron between male and female individuals took place after mating process
enoecl
In stage four, after mating process took place, the pair started to separate. The mating process for the pair could occur up to 5 times a day from 0730 hours until 1900 hours. In comparison, mating between the African Palm Swifts (Cypsizrus zaryus) occurs about 22 times within 30 minutes lvan Gelder, 1996).
According to Marzuki, (1994), Lim (1999) and Budiman (2006). food resources such as insect abundance and the weather plays an impodant factor in determining the mating behavior as well as the breeding success ofthe swifdets. Therefore, further studies on these factors are needed to enhance the mating success of this species.
Overall, our observation was able to document four distinct stages in the mating process of A.
fuciphagus.
RnrnnnNcns
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