Insect cornucopia: various bird types prey on the season's first giant cicadas in an urban park in southeastern Brazil

Resumen

Some species of large cicadas (Hemiptera) emerge in huge numbers during particular periods, and thus become an abundant food source for several vertebrate species that dwell in the same areas. I record here a small assemblage of six bird species that preyed on the season's first giant cicadas (Quesada gigas) from early September to mid November 2007 in an urban park of Campinas, São Paulo, southeastern Brazil. The Plumbeous Kite (Ictinia plumbea) was the most ubiquitous cicada predator. It waited high on perches or patrolled on wing and hunted adult cicadas only. Three cuckoo species (Crotophaga ani, Guira guira, and Piaya cayana) foraged on cicadas both on vegetation and on the ground, the first one also taking nymphs that emerged from a pond bank. The Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) preyed mostly on nymphs on the pond bank, although it also preyed on adult cicadas that fell in the water, which was the case of the Green Heron (Butorides striata) as well. With the exception of the Plumbeous Kite, which may specialize on cicadas during the breeding season, the remainder birds behaved as opportunistic predators on this seasonal and abundant food source.