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Titre :
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A Bare-throated Tiger-Heron (Tigrisoma mexicanum) hunts in a cave (2025)
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Auteurs :
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J. Judson Wynne, Auteur ;
Reynold N. Cal, Auteur
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Type de document :
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Article
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Dans :
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Wilson Journal of Ornithology (The) (137(2) June, 2025)
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Article en page(s) :
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211-217
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Mots-clés:
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Comportamiento de caza subterránea
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Underground hunting behavior
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cave ecology
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comportamiento de búsqueda de alimento
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crepuscular
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ecología de cuevas
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foraging behavior
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hipogeo
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hypogean
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Résumé :
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We report the first documented event of a Bare-throated Tiger-Heron (Tigrisoma mexicanum) hunting in a cave. Using trail cameras, these observations were captured at Runaway Creek Nature Reserve (RCNR) in central Belize. In April 2023, we observed a first-year juvenile tiger-heron using a cave as a feeding site for approximately 29 h over 16 separate occasions. At the beginning of the first day of observations, a juvenile tiger-heron captured a false firemouth (Amphilophus robertsoni) in the twilight zone of the cave, which was followed by seven subsequent video segments where a juvenile approached the water’s edge in a hunting gait. Combined with the identification of heron tracks within a nearby cave a year prior, our observations suggest that cave use by herons may be more frequent than previously reported. As cave entrances are characterized by low-light conditions during the day and roughly 81% of the observations occurred during non-twilight daytime hours, we discuss how cave habitats may extend the foraging period for some crepuscular-foraging avian species. Continuing to monitor RCNR caves and expanding trail camera monitoring efforts to additional flooded and/or stream caves across Belize will serve to assess the frequency of cave use by T. mexicanum and other avian species.
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En ligne :
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https://doi.org/10.1080/15594491.2024.2444010
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