ABSTRACT
This chapter applies known patterns and sequences of molt from northern latitudes to develop age and sex criteria for bird species in the central Amazon, many of which are widespread across the region. The work presented here is largely based on observations of 12,424 captures of birds between 2007 and 2014, plus another 53,803 historic captures between 1979 and 2001 in the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP) bird capture database. The chapter includes information from the examination of over 1000 specimens at the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science. The temporal breadth of the BDFFP long-term capture database allowed us to provide not only age-specific molt sequences and extents, but also estimates of molt and breeding seasonality for the majority of species presented here. The formative plumage (FCF) in this group is characterized by the presence of molt limits, or contrast between the more recently replaced formative and older retained juvenile feathers.
