Academic literature on the topic 'Willy wagtail'

This ecological survey carried out along the Highlands Highway (71 locations-bridges) between Erap Bridge in Morobe Province to Whagi Bridge, Western Highlands Province. Data and information collection involved physical site observations and informant interviews. The survey used the capture-release method for insects, invertebrates, fish, and plankton; flyover counts were used for birds and informant interviews for mammals and other animals of interest. Terrestrial ecosystem: Common fauna included invertebrates such as Eurema hecabe, Danaus plexippus, Plutella xylostella, and other types of butterflies, Anisoptera, Apis cerena, and black ants (Fomicidae). Vertebrates such as sparrows (Passeridae), willy wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys), eagle (Hieraaetus weiskei), kingfisher (Alcedinidae), mountain cuscus (Phalanger carmelitae), tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus goodfellowi) and Princess Stephanie’s Astrapia (Astrapia. Stephaniae). Flora across the highlands province commonly appeared bamboo, casuarina oligodon (she-oak), Ficus dammaropsis, coffee, elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum), cow grass (Axonopus compressus), rain tree (Samanea saman), Piper adancum and banana. In contrast, common and significant flora along plain region included casuarina, pine, leucaena, bamboo, and other anthropogenic grasses, Piper adancum, sunflower (Helianthus annuus), Northofagus grandis, and Ficus. Aquatic ecosystem: Aquatic fauna along the highlands region included carp (Cyprinidae), tilapia (Oreochromis mossambica), juvenile fish, freshwater prawns (Palaemonidae), trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and catfish (Arius spp) while aquatic fauna of coastal province comprised of invertebrates like pond skaters, water beetle and tadpoles and invertebrates such as rainbow trout and tilapia. Aquatic flora was limited to green algae at a few locations in the highlands provinces where the water was stagnant or had human impacts, but it was primarily green and brown algae in the plain area. We also found Dendrolagus goodfellowii as an endangered species, while Phalanger carmelitae, Astrapia stephaniae, and Northofagus grandis are endemic but classified as the least concern. The findings indicated modification of habitats throughout the Highlands Highway. The absence of native and endemic species was also noted in most of the locations. Only six sites revealed some primary and secondary forests and vegetation.

Bird nests can be complex bio-engineered structures constructed from a range of materials to provide a site for incubation, and in many species chick rearing. Reports of the materials used in nest walls and cup linings are typically qualitative and do not assist in understanding the functional properties of the structure as a whole. This paper provides size and composition data for nests from four species of the Motacillidae family: the meadow pipit ( Anthus pratensis), pied wagtail ( Motacilla alba), grey wagtail ( Motacilla cinerea), and the yellow wagtail ( Motacilla flava), three species of the Sylviidae family: willow warbler ( Phylloscopus trochilus), Eurasian reed warbler ( Acrocephalus scirpaceus) and Eurasian blackcap ( Sylvia atricapilla), and the dunnock ( Prunella modularis) of the Prunellidae family. Three hypotheses were tested: do nest dimensions correlate with body mass? Is it possible to distinguish among species based on their nest composition; and for individual species? Is it possible to distinguish between the cup lining and outer nest wall based on the materials used in construction? Nest composition and size varied among species although the degree of intra-specific variation was different. Size of a nest was unrelated to average female adult body mass. Composition relied on similar types of materials but in differing quantities between species. It was possible to distinguish among species in terms of nest construction, and between the cup lining and the outer nest, on the basis of at least one of the component materials. By providing quantitative data on composition, it may be possible in the future to understand better the structural, insulative and hydrological properties of the nest. Such information will be invaluable as we begin to develop an understanding of the factors that have driven evolution of nest architecture.

The present study was carried out in the recently established Warathenna-Hakkinda EPA in the Kandy District, Sri Lanka to investigate the avifaunal diversity and conservation threats. Sampling was conducted in two main habitat types: river islands and riverine forests. Both point count (10 m radius) and line transect (200 m long) methods were utilized and maximum of 30 minutes was used to sample the birds in each point. Food habit, niche type, endemism, abundance, and diversity indices (Shannon & Margalef) were calculated to compare the two habitats in this area. A total of 74 bird species belonging to 61 genera and 35 families were encountered from the study site. Among these, seven species are endemic: Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill, Sri Lanka Green Pigeon, Sri Lanka Wood Pigeon, Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot, Crimson-fronted Barbet, Yellow-fronted Barbet, and Sri Lanka Hill Mynah; while six were migratory: Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Indian Pitta, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Yellow Wagtail, and Grey Wagtail and the rest were non-endemic natives. Most of them were canopy and sub canopy dwellers associated with riverine forests and islands. According to the National Red List of Sri Lanka, three species, the Sri Lanka Wood Pigeon, Sri Lanka Hill Mynah, and Alpine Swift, are listed as threatened. Ardeidae, Alcedinidae, Columbidae, Accipitridae, and Apodidae were the most species rich families in this habitat. Out of the sampled species, 31% and 25% of the birds were carnivores and insectivores, respectively, while 5% were nectarivores. According to the avifauna, the riverine forests are more diverse (Shannon index H’= 2.55; Margalef’s index M= 10.92) than the river islands (H’= 2.29; M= 5.07) in this landscape. The variety of habitats along the Mahaweli River at Warathenna appears to aid in sustaining a rich bird community and this Environmental Protection Area will help create a safe haven for the birds.

While our multimedia world, with rapid advances in technologies, now challenges educators to consider new pedagogies that expand cultural and linguistic diversity, the potential for information and communication technologies (ICT) to support literacy learning in the early years remains a seriously under-researched area. There is an urgency to address a range of questions raised by teacher practitioners such as what new literacies will look like in their programs, how ICT can be used to learn in new ways, and which pedagogies of multiliteracies are relevant for early childhood education. This paper explores these questions in relation to knowledge management initiatives and e-learning opportunities. The Willy Wagtail Tale presents a case study of how knowledge management and e-learning is socially constructed to enrich multiliteracies experiences in the early years. The study occurred in a small Western Australian school committed to the Reggio Emilia teaching approach. Implications for educational research are that multiliteracies experiences occur inadvertently through children’s play, are integral to The Hundred Languages of Children, and are dramatically enriched through social constructivist knowledge management and child-centered e-learning.

ABSTRACT The interacting effects of drought and fire on ecological communities are poorly understood. Long-term studies in the Warrumbungle Mountains, central-west New South Wales, subject to drought and fire during the past 21 years, enabled their separate and combined effects to be quantified for individual species and functional groups. Insectivores (especially ground-foragers) dominated previous lists of declining species in this region of NSW and were also prominent in the present work. Insectivores were more likely to be drought- than fire-affected, with seven species declining due to drought, three to drought plus fire, and three to fire alone. Our analyses also revealed declines in a suite of honeyeaters (Meliphagidae), previously not reported as declining. Honeyeaters are major pollinators of eucalypts, so the loss of nectarivores and insectivores has far-reaching implications for pollination, recruitment, successional dynamics, and forest health. Four honeyeater species were adversely affected by drought, five by fire, and one by a combination of drought and fire. Drought and fire, alone or in combination, were implicated in declines of granivores, including the Crimson Rosella Platycercus elegans, and frugivores, especially the Mistletoebird Dicaeum hirundinaceum, the latter reflecting the loss of mistletoes in fire-affected landscapes, and foreshadowing additional losses due to the reliance on mistletoe by many species. Another group not previously identified as threatened, but declining due to drought were two omnivores, the Pied Currawong Strepera graculina and Australian Raven Corvus coronoides. Hollow-nesting birds including two species of treecreeper and the Laughing Kookaburra Dacelo novaeguineae fared badly. Several common Australian species were among the decliners, including Laughing Kookaburra, Willie Wagtail Rhipidura leucophrys and Australian Magpie Cracticus tibicen. We conclude that no suite of birds is exempt from these environmental stressors, and predict that, as droughts reduce populations at regional scales and fires diminish carrying capacity of critical habitats at landscape scales, rarer species will decline to local extinction while more commonly observed species will be reduced in abundance.