While recently looking at Ibisbills on the banks of a mountain river in Bhutan it struck me how well camouflaged the birds were with their dark chest bands being similar in colour and shape as the shaded bottom parts of pebbles. A cursory search of nesting habitats and morphology suggests that the two features - dark chest band and pebbly habitats -- often coincide. I assume that this is generally recognized but cannot find any publications on this matter. Can anyone help?
I'm not aware of any studies looking at chest bands as camouflage but there are studies linking breast band size and quality to mate quality, as in the Bar-throated Apalis (a small, thicket-dwelling passerine). Alternative hypothesis, sexual selection?
The Bar-throated Apalis would indeed not fit in the pattern of ground-dwelling or breeding birds in pebbly habitats, so there must be other factors selecting for pectoral bands. I do see a recurrent theme though of breast bands and pebbly habitats, not just in waders but also chats, meadowlarks, and others. I guess a detailed analysis of breeding habitats and phylogeny would be needed to really understand what is going on.
Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius) might be a good example; they are very cryptic in their breeding grounds which are fully covered by pebbles. A comparative analysis for members of Charadriidae could yield remarkable inferences. This could be helpful just for an overview:
Ferns, P. N. (2003): Plumage colour and pattern in waders. Bulletin Wader Study Group 100: 122-129.
Thanks Murat. I had noticed the plovers as very good example (Killdeer in north America for example). Do you happen to have a pdf of that paper. I would be very interested to read it/
THE person who would know about this is Prof Tamás Székely - he is on RG (& has done comparative studies as well as being a wader fundi)
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