Foraging Routine of Two Common Urban Birds on Berries of Exotic Livistona chinensis: A Winter Supplement in an Urban Landscape
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
review report for sustainability-2486043-
in the title
(Foraging routine of two common urban birds on berries of exotic Livistona chinensis: A winter supplement in an urban landscape)
• What is the main question addressed by the research?
A study focused on the foraging habits of two common urban bird species, the bulbul and crow, revealed that both birds heavily consume L. chinensis berries during December and January when the pulp becomes soft and no other fruits are available in the urban landscape.
• Do you consider the topic original or relevant in the field? Does it
address a specific gap in the field?
This study, situated at the intersection of sustainability and ornithology, sheds light on the foraging habits of two prevalent urban bird species: the bulbul and crow. An area of limited investigation, this research specifically examines their consumption patterns of L. chinensis berries, an ornamental plant commonly found in urban landscapes. The study uncovers a significant phenomenon, as both bird species heavily rely on these berries during December and January, a time when the pulp softens and alternative fruits are scarce in the urban environment.
What does it add to the subject area compared with other published material?
This finding addresses a critical gap in the field, as rare studies have explored the specific dietary preferences of urban birds during this particular period. The discovery highlights the potential importance of L. chinensis berries as a crucial winter food source for these birds, emphasizing its role in supporting the ecological well-being of urban avian populations and promoting sustainable practices in urban landscaping.
• What specific improvements should the authors consider regarding the
methodology? What further controls should be considered?
In Lin 120 from repeated twice .
From line 126 to lin 130 need to add more details about the way they count number of berries consumed from droppings
From line 172 to line 174 fig (3) don’t matching with the text.??? Change it use fig 5 or rewrite the fig number in all text
• Are the conclusions consistent with the evidence and arguments presented
and do they address the main question posed?
The conclusions are good
• Are the references appropriate?
good
With my regard
Author Response
Reviewer 1:
Point 1: In Line 120 from repeated twice
Response 1: Removed see line 123
Point 2: From line 126 to line 130 need to add more details about the way they count number of berries consumed from droppings
Response 2: More detail is added, See line 127 to 134.
Point 3: From line 172 to line 174 fig (3) don’t matching with the text.??? Change it use fig 5 or rewrite the fig number in all tex
Response 3: Figure is changed in the text
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear Authors,
please find my comments below. I think the manuscript must be improved before acceptance.
First of all, the Introduction is too long. Please write in a concise, logical and non-redundant way.
Methods are not clearly written. In my opinion, more should be written about analysis.
The presentation of the results is unnecessarily long, there are sentences for discussion.
Discussion repeats the Introduction in several cases.
In general, the English is very difficult to understand, there are many very long sentences in the text.
Specific comments:
L8: Should be given its English name, and I think that should be used throughout the manuscript. The Latin name is sufficient at the first mention.
L13: bulbul and crow is a collective noun, please provide the exact species names
L25-26: „Livistona chinensis, the Chinese fan palm is native to southern Japan, Taiwan, south-eastern China, and Hainan” Please add source(s).
L29: (Dad and Hussnain 2017): Please move the citation to the end of the sentence.
L31-35: „Studies on the chemical compositionof L. chinensis’ berries showed that it has vitamins, fatty acids, flavonoids, amino acids, steroids, and phenolics and its extract contains the antioxidant constituents and exhibits antiproliferative and antiangiogenic aspects and is used in traditional medicine to treat cancer”.
Please turn this long sentence into at least two sentences.
L38: Urocissa erythrorhyncha and Pica pica: Please also add the English names of these species.
L39-40: (Corlett 39 2004, 2005): Please move the citation to the end of the sentence.
L41-45: Please turn this long sentence into at least two sentences.
L45: (Khan 2014): Please move the citation to the end of the sentence.
L46: Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer) and crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos): Please also add the English names of these species. Then you do not need to use the Latin names.
L56-60: Please do not use italics.
L61: species, (Nyari et al. 2006): Please delete the comma after „species”.
L65: (Kambli 2004): Please do not use italics.
L71-72: (Bismarkia nobilis Hildebr. & H.Wend. Roystonea regia O.F Cook. and 71 Washingtonia filfera Webdl): Please add the English names before the scientific names. Auctor names are not required.
L87-94: Pleae do not use underlining.
L89-91: „Aslan and Rejmanek 2010; Catterall et al. 1989; Gray and van Heezik 2016; Green et al. 1989; Daniels and Kirkpatrick 2006; Mackenzie et al. 2014”: Citations should be put in chronological order. This applies for the whole manuscript, these are no longer marked.
L120: „four times from from Nov. 2018 to March 2019.”: Please delete the first „from” as well as write November instead of Nov.
L125: First you mention four categories but you listed only 3. Please clarify!
L136-138: Here we only know what nutrients were analysed, but how is unknown. Please decide whether to use the full or abbreviated name, and apply for the whole manuscript.
L149: demonstrated instead of demonstarted
L150: November instead of Nov. Please avoid the abbreviation of the months in the whole text.
L159-161: „This may be because for bulbuls more alternative food was available in early springs or may be because bulbul avoided feeding on less juicy berries, which easily detached when pecked upon.
This sentence should be move to the Discussion.
L171: Figure 2: I do not know what values are on the Y axis. Please add the names of the axes.
L172-189: This paragraph is much more like a discussion than any results. Please give the results briefly and clearly.
In addition, I do not understand the relevance of the photos.
L194-195: Again, this should be move to the Discussion.
L206-209: This is again a very long sentence.
L209-213: This is again a very long sentence.
L221: (Al-Shahib et al. 2003): Please move to the end of the sentence.
L234: species instead of „bird”
Dear Editor,
please find my comments above. I think the manuscript must be improved before acceptance, if it makes sense at all. I think it has no real scientific significance.
Best regards,
Dr. László Bozó
Author Response
Response to Editor
Reviewer 2
Point 1; L8: Should be given its English name, and I think that should be used throughout the manuscript. The Latin name is sufficient at the first mention.
Response 1: English name is added, See line 8
Point 2: L13: bulbul and crow is a collective noun, please provide the exact species names
Response 2: Name is added, See line 13 and 14
Point 3: L25-26: „Livistona chinensis, the Chinese fan palm is native to southern Japan, Taiwan, south-eastern China, and Hainan” Please add source(s).
Response 3: Source is added, see line 27
Point 4: L29: (Dad and Hussnain 2017): Please move the citation to the end of the sentence.
Response 4: Citation moved, See line 33
Point 5: L31-35: „Studies on the chemical compositionof L. chinensis’ berries showed that it has vitamins, fatty acids, flavonoids, amino acids, steroids, and phenolics and its extract contains the antioxidant constituents and exhibits antiproliferative and antiangiogenic aspects and is used in traditional medicine to treat cancer”. Please turn this long sentence into at least two sentences.
Response 5: Sentence shortened, See line 33 - 36
Point 6: L38: Urocissa erythrorhyncha and Pica pica: Please also add the English names of these species.
Response 6: Names are added. See line 40 - 41
Point 7: L39-40: (Corlett 39 2004, 2005): Please move the citation to the end of the sentence.
Response 7: Citation moved, See line 42
Point 8: L41-45: Please turn this long sentence into at least two sentences.
Response 8: Sentence shortened, see line 43 - 47
Point 9: L45: (Khan 2014): Please move the citation to the end of the sentence.
Response 9: Citation moved, see line 50
Point 10: L46: Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer) and crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos): Please also add the English names of these species. Then you do not need to use the Latin names.
Response 10: Names added, see line 47 - 48
Point 11: L56-60: Please do not use italics.
Response 11: Italic removed, see line 60-62
Point 12: L61: species, (Nyari et al. 2006): Please delete the comma after „species”.
Response 12: Comma deleted, see line 63
Point 13: L65: (Kambli 2004): Please do not use italics.
Response 13: Italic removed, see line 67
Point 14: L71-72: (Bismarkia nobilis Hildebr. & H.Wend. Roystonea regia O.F Cook. and 71 Washingtonia filfera Webdl): Please add the English names before the scientific names. Auctor names are not required.
Response 14: Corrected see line 73
Point 15: L87-94: Pleae do not use underlining.
Response 15: Removed 87 - 96
Point 16: L89-91: „Aslan and Rejmanek 2010; Catterall et al. 1989; Gray and van Heezik 2016; Green et al. 1989; Daniels and Kirkpatrick 2006; Mackenzie et al. 2014”: Citations should be put in chronological order. This applies for the whole manuscript, these are no longer marked.
Response 16: Corrected in whole manuscript
Point 17: L120: „four times from from Nov. 2018 to March 2019.”: Please delete the first „from” as well as write November instead of Nov.
Response 17: Removed see line 123
Point 18: L125: First you mention four categories but you listed only 3. Please clarify!
Response 18: Corrected see line 128
Point 19: L136-138: Here we only know what nutrients were analysed, but how is unknown. Please decide whether to use the full or abbreviated name, and apply for the whole manuscript.
Response 19: Abbreviated names in whole manuscript
Point 20: L149: demonstrated instead of demonstrated
Response 20: Corrected see line 153
Point 21: L150: November instead of Nov. Please avoid the abbreviation of the months in the whole text.
Response 21: Done in whole manuscript
Point 22: L159-161: „This may be because for bulbuls more alternative food was available in early springs or may be because bulbul avoided feeding on less juicy berries, which easily detached when pecked upon.
This sentence should be move to the Discussion.
Response 22: Moved to discussion see line 241 - 243
Point 23: L171: Figure 2: I do not know what values are on the Y axis. Please add the names of the axes.
Response 23: Axes names added
Point 24: L172-189: This paragraph is much more like a discussion than any results. Please give the results briefly and clearly. In addition, I do not understand the relevance of the photos.
Response 24: Photos emulsified feeding habitat and no of birds
Point 25: L194-195: Again, this should be move to the Discussion.
Response 25: Moved to Discussion see line 209 - 211
Point 26: L206-209: This is again a very long sentence.
Response 26: Shortened see line 205 to 208
Point 27: L209-213: This is again a very long sentence.
Response 27: Shortened see line 211 - 214
Point 28: L221: (Al-Shahib et al. 2003): Please move to the end of the sentence.
Response 28: Moved see line 224
Point 29: L234: species instead of „bird”
Response 29: Corrected see line 236
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear Authors,
I was a bit disappointed, because of the corrections I asked for, only the minor ones have done, and only partly. Please check again my major comments as well as the minor ones.
There are still spelling mistakes throughout the text.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
We have tried to address the all comments one by one given in the manuscript. Since it was a preliminary investigation and the method was devised to emphasize the no of birds feeding on berries and complementing each other. If we reduce the length of the introduction then it will lose international relevance.
Regards,
Amin Khan
Round 3
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear Authors,
thank you for the work you have done to improve the manuscript. I agree that the current form is necessary to make the manuscript international.
However, the English definitely needs to be improved. For example, it's not enough to write "crow" or "bulbul", you should write the full names of the species. The bibliography and citations also need proofreading.
Please see my comments above.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thanks for your comments. We have your addressed your comments; added the full name of birds and have done proof reading of citations and references.
Regards,
Amin Khan
