The benefits of joining mixed-species flocks for Greater Racket-tailed Drongos Dicrurus paradiseus

Abstract

The benefits of mixed-species flocking, whether reduced predation risk or increased foraging efficiency, are often analysed as they apply to the flock as a whole (Morse 1977, Terborgh 1990). Different species, however, may benefit from flocking in different ways (Hino 1998). Furthermore, species differ in the benefits they provide to others, with some ‘nuclear’ species being particularly important to flock formation and cohesion (Moynihan 1962, Hutto 1994). A full description of a mixed-flock system would therefore depict the flow of different benefits among a web of species.