Comparison in Breeding Performance of Great Tit, Parus Major Inhabiting in Urban Parks with Different Proportion of Tree Cover

Abstract

Great tits inhabit various habitats; from natural forests to urban parks and gardens. But they are few in the urban area of Osaka that has been covered few vegetation historically. We investigated about their breeding performance in two urban habitats, the Expo memorial park (proportion of tree cover is 73.3%) and the University campus (22.2%) between 2002-2004. Clutch size, brood size, weight of nestlings were similar in both sites. But, the population density and feeding frequencies were higher in the Expo park than the University campus. The number of nestlings leaving the nest changed year by year in each site. Feeding range was larger in the University campus than the Expo park, so it is thought that pairs in the University campus enlarge their feeding range to increase feeding frequencies. We suggested that it is still difficult for great tits to inhabit suitably in the city center of Osaka, and connectivity of tree cover is important as well as vertical structure of woods to keep their population sustainably.