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1 September 2015 Nest Defense by a White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus) Against Snakes
Rui-Chang Quan, Huan Li
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Abstract

Snakes represent a serious nest predator to birds. We describe detailed information about interactions between the White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus) and a nest predator, the Cantor’s Kukri Snake (Oligodon cyclurus) using video recordings. We observed a female White-rumped Shama defending its nest from a Cantor’s Kukri snake by pecking at it when it came within 1 m of the nest. One snake was driven away without consuming a nestling. Two subsequent visits by a larger snake also ended with the snake leaving, but in each attack the snake successfully consumed one nestling. In comparison to findings of an immediate response of other passerines fleeing nests upon snake incursion and subsequent anti-predator attacks, the female shama in this observation attacked the snake predator immediately at its first appearance at the nest.

© 2015 The Wilson Ornithological Society
Rui-Chang Quan and Huan Li "Nest Defense by a White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus) Against Snakes," The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 127(3), 538-542, (1 September 2015). https://doi.org/10.1676/14-100.1
Received: 8 July 2014; Accepted: 1 January 2015; Published: 1 September 2015
KEYWORDS
birds
nest defense
nest predator
snakes
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