Journal
JOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY
Volume 32, Issue 4, Pages 377-380Publisher
BLACKWELL MUNKSGAARD
DOI: 10.1111/j.0908-8857.2001.320415.x
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Feather wear is the natural degradation and breakage of feather structure during the interval between moults. Different rates of feather wear have been observed for primaries of free-living populations of several species of passerines and waders, and this variability has been linked to different concentrations of melanins. In this study primary moult duration explained 59% of the variation in annual rates of primary abrasion (percentage wing length loss) of seven Grey Plover wintering populations, while migration distance explained 14%. The analysis suggests that primary moult duration plays a key role in determining primary durability and hence primary quality. Long distance migants might evolve more durable primaries, despite the higher predation risks and energetic costs of a prolonged moult. Partial or complete pre-breeding primary moults of first-year waders and complete biannual moults of some passerines might have evolved under selective forces favouring migration with unabraded primaries.
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