Albayrak et at. • MORPHOMETRICS OF K RUPERTS NUTHATCH 
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25 30 35 40 45 
FIG. 1. Study sites in the Anatolian Peninsula. Turkey and significant differentiation of Kruper’s Nuthatch populations. 
World distribution is in gray. 
pine forest). Adrasan (ADR. 200 m asl; red pine 
forest). Kazdaglan Mountain (KAZ. 800 ni asl; 
black pine [P. nigra] forest), and Karlalkaya 
Mountain (KAR, 1.300 m asl; black pine forest) to 
collect morphometric data. The areas were 
generally mountainous with natural vegetation, 
rising from sea level to 2,500 m asl. All capture 
sites were in mature coniferous forests. The 
shortest distance was between ADR and BUK 
(81 km) and the longest was between ALA and 
KAZ (783 km; Fig. 1). 
Bird Census .—Surveys for nuthatches were 
conducted during the breeding season between 
March and June 2005-2008 to understand possi¬ 
ble gender differences (breeding females can be 
identified from brood patches). In total. 78 m (2 X 
•2,2 X 10. 2 x 8. and 3 x <S m) of mist nets were 
and playback of calls was used to attract 
nuthatches; 82 individuals were captured. Only 
males were expected to be attracted by playback 
of calls but five individuals captured had brood 
patches and were probably females. It is not 
possible to separate most adult males from adult 
females based on plumage characteristics al- 
•hough there is limited information in the 
literature (Cramp and Perrins 1993). These five 
individuals were excluded from the popu¬ 
lation comparison analysis since they may differ 
from males and were too few to be analyzed 
separately. 
Forty-one different morphometric characters 
based on Svensson (1992) were measured by the 
same observer (TA) in all populations: body mass, 
wing length, tail length, bill length (BL), bill 
width at nostril (BW), bill height at nostril (BH), 
length of bill apex to head back (LBaHb), length 
of nostril to bill apex (LNBa), length of black on 
forehead (LbF), alula, tarsus, four nails of left 
foot, all 10 primaries and nine secondaries of the 
left wing, and all six rectrices from the left side. 
Digital calipers and a digital balance were used 
for taking measurements. All individuals were 
released after measurement at their capture 
location. 
Data Analyses .—We performed a stepwise 
discriminant analysis to explore the level of 
morphologic differentiation among Kriiper's Nut¬ 
hatch populations. We retained only 15 characters 
subjectively supposed to be the most discriminat¬ 
ing among populations, and for which sufficient 
individuals were measured. Populations ALY and 
ADR had few individuals with complete mea- 
