Funnel traps capture a higher proportion of juvenile Great Tits parus major than automatic traps

Abstract

We compared capture rates of Great Tits at funnel traps, where several birds can be captured at once so that some decoy effect may appear, to those obtained at automatic traps, where only one bird can be trapped at a time, at trapping stations in northeastern Spain. Juvenile birds were mainly captured at funnel traps (79% of juvenile captures), whereas adult plumaged birds were captured at both types of traps (51% of captures were at the funnel traps) (test between ages, P<0.001). Juvenile Great Tits had lower body condition as measured by ptilochronology (P<0.01). These birds are more easily trapped in funnel traps, which may be acting as decoy traps, and thus are vulnerable to the same kinds of biases (eg age or body condition) that have been previously documented for decoy traps.