Drinking Skills in Estrildid Finches

Abstract

The Pictorella Mannikin Lonchura pectoralis, which drinks by swallowing, normally imbibes water more rapdly than the Gouldian Finch Erythrura gouldiae, which drinks by sucking. Consequently, L. pectoralis completes drinking bouts more rapidly than E. gouldiae in the wild and thereby reduces the time spent at the water's edge where birds are at high risk of attack from predators. The sucking technique in E. gouldiae is, however, more effective than swallowing in L. pectoralis when brds have to: (1) reach down to drink from water beneath their perching places; (2) drink from shallow water, and (3) drink from small droplets of water. It is suggested that these skills enable E. gouldiae, and other species which drink by sucking, to exploit inaccessible sources of water and they may therefore be important in enabling them to survive conditions of drought and invade arid regions.