| Summary: | Mixed-species flocks are associations of two or more species possibly derived from the maximization of foraging and/or minimization of predation. Several studies with mixed-species flocks have been carried out in southern Brazil, but none of them in a native Araucaria forest. Mixed-species bird flocks were surveyed between 2006 to 2007 at the Parque Estadual das Araucárias (PEA), in São Domingos, in the western part of the state of Santa Catarina. Fifty-six species were recorded in 29 flocks and the average number of birds per flock was 11. Of these species, 36 (64%) had a frequency of occurrence that was higher than 10%. The most abundant species were Parula pitiayumi (72%), Hemithraupis guira (65%), Basileuterus culicivorus (62%), Lepidocolaptes falcinellus (62%), Veniliornis spilogaster (55%) and Sittasomus griseicapillus (51%). Apparently, there was no nuclear species that assumed responsibility for the mixed flock’s constitution and cohesion, but instead a complex of nuclear species that acted in way that favored the relatively large sizes of the flocks.
|
|---|