AVIAN RESOURCE USE IN DOMINICAN SHADE COFFEE PLANTATIONS

We quantified foraging behavior of 19 bird species in shade coffee pla ntations in the Dominican Republic to document and evaluate their use of food resources in the shade overstory relative to the coffee unders tory. All species were observed foraging in the Inga vera overstory, a nd 18 of the 19 species had median foraging heights significantly abov e the median maximum coffee height. Eight species (42%) foraged exclus ively in the canopy or subcanopy and not in the coffee understory. No species foraged exclusively in the coffee, although the Narrow-billed Tody (Todus angustirostris) foraged mostly in coffee. A negative corre lation was found between a species' median foraging height in our shad e plantations and its abundance in nearby sun coffee plantations. Inve rtebrates and nectar were the most important food items in the Inga ov erstory where 95% of the species gleaned leaf surfaces, 63% probed flo wers, 58% gleaned or probed wood, 47% used epiphytes (for invertebrate s or fruits), and 26% gleaned or probed Inga fruit. In contrast, birds in coffee foraged primarily for invertebrate prey as 42% of all speci es gleaned leaf surfaces, 21% gleaned or probed wood, 21% gleaned or p robed fruit, and 5% probed flowers. The Inga overstory was an importan t foraging site for most species suggesting that plantations without a shade overstory (i.e., sun coffee) will have a lower diversity and ab undance of food and hence are less attractive to birds than traditiona l shade plantations.