Supplementing a grain diet with insects instead of fruits sustains the body condition of an omnivorous bird

Omnivores utilize dietary sources that differ in nutrients, hence dietary limitations due to environmental change or habitat alteration could cause nutrient limitations, and thus deterioration of body condition if omnivory is obligate. We investigated how the body condition of the omnivorous Village Weaver Ploceus cucullatus, which forages predominantly on grains, responds to the supplementation of its grain diet with insects instead of fruits. Forty wild‐caught weavers held in aviaries were fed a combination of grains and fruits, or grains and insects ad libitum for 8 weeks. We determined diet preference by recording the number of birds on each diet option per minute for 1 h and the amount of food left over after 3 hours of foraging. Fortnightly, we assessed indices of body condition including body mass, pectoral muscle, and fat scores, packed cell volume (PCV), and hemoglobin concentration (HBC). We modeled the number of foragers, food left over, and body condition indices as function..., This dataset contains observations and measurements made via experimental feeding of the Village Weaver (Ploceus cucullatus) with grains + fruits and grains + insects in an outdoor aviary (with 4 rooms) in the A. P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute, Jos, Nigeria. The measurements and observation are a product of experimental investigation of diet preference of the Village Weavers (determined via the amount of food left after feeding by the birds (Giving-up density, GUD) and the number of birds foraging on each diet types per given time), and how deprivation of supplementary dietary items (fruits and insects) affect the body condition (body mass, pectoral muscle score, fat score, packed cell volume, and haemoglobin concentration) of Village Weavers. The data has been processed using Microsoft excel and analysed in R statistical software., , # Supplementing a grain diet with insects instead of fruits sustains the body condition of an omnivorous bird

## Description of the data, file structure, and access information

Data_Effect_of_diet_supplementation_on_body_condition_ECE-2022-08-01167.R2.xlsx

The Microsoft Excel dataset file contains three (3) sheets. Sheet one (1) contains the aviary body condition measurement data, sheet two (2) contains the observation of birds foraging on diet types per given time, and sheet three (3) contains the giving up density measurement data.

### Sheet one (1): Aviary\_Body\_Condition\_Data

* Diets: Diet experimental treatment/group; grains + fruit and grains + insects
* Species: VILWE: Village Weaver *Ploceus cucullatus*
* Ring: Unique metal ring identity of individual birds with colour rings in brackets where W = white, R = red, B = blue, and Y = yellow
* Survival at week 8: *Birds that survived throughout the 8 weeks of the experiment
* Aviaries: 4 aviaries- 2 with grains+fruit fed weave...