Flocking and feeding in the white-fronted chat Ephthianura albifrons: The relationship between diet,food availability and patch selection

Censuses of white-fronted chats were conducted three times per day, four times per month for more than 2 years in a salt-marsh/grassland near Melbourne. Most birds Were in flocks of less than 10, although flocks of up to 50 were recorded. Diet was determined by stomach flushing 226 birds over a 12 month period and the abundance of their arthropod prey was sampled in pitfall and sticky traps located in areas where flocks aggregated and in areas where few birds were found. Diptera and Coleoptera were the major components of the diet, although the actual species varied throughout the year. On 8 of 9 occasions when differences in prey density were detected, birds aggregated in the more profitable patches. These observations suggest a relationship between food-finding and flock formation but cannot eliminate the possibility of flocking functioning as an anti-predator strategy.