Egg discrimination and pecking behaviour in parasitic cowbirds

We studied egg-pecking behaviour in males and females of three cowbird species: the shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis), a host generalist brood parasite, the screaming cowbird (M. rufoaxillaris), a host specialist brood parasite, and the bay-winged cowbird (Agelaioides badius), a non-parasitic sp...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Llambías, Paulo, Reboreda, Juan Carlos
Publicado:	2006
Materias:	artificial nest behavioral ecology brood parasitism experimental study passerine sex determination songbird Aves Molothrus Molothrus bonariensis
Acceso en línea:	https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_01791613_v112_n11_p1128_Llambias http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_01791613_v112_n11_p1128_Llambias
Aporte de:	Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA) de Universidad de Buenos Aires

id	paper:paper_01791613_v112_n11_p1128_Llambias
record_format	dspace
spelling	paper:paper_01791613_v112_n11_p1128_Llambias2023-06-08T15:19:27Z Egg discrimination and pecking behaviour in parasitic cowbirds Llambías, Paulo Reboreda, Juan Carlos artificial nest behavioral ecology brood parasitism experimental study passerine sex determination songbird Aves Molothrus Molothrus bonariensis We studied egg-pecking behaviour in males and females of three cowbird species: the shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis), a host generalist brood parasite, the screaming cowbird (M. rufoaxillaris), a host specialist brood parasite, and the bay-winged cowbird (Agelaioides badius), a non-parasitic species. We conducted three experiments in which we offered each bird an artificial nest with two plaster eggs and recorded whether egg pecking occurred and the number of pecks on each egg. In expt 1, we tested if there were species and sex differences in egg-pecking behaviour by offering the birds two spotted eggs of similar pattern. Shiny and screaming cowbirds responded in 40.3% and 44% of the trials, respectively, with females and males presenting similar levels of response. In contrast, bay-winged cowbirds did not show any response. In expt 2, we tested if shiny cowbirds responded differentially when they faced a choice between one host and one shiny cowbird egg, while in expt 3, we tested if screaming cowbirds responded differentially when they faced a choice between one shiny and one screaming cowbird egg. Shiny cowbirds pecked preferentially host eggs while screaming cowbirds pecked more frequently shiny cowbird eggs. Our results show that egg-pecking behaviour is present in both sexes of parasitic cowbirds, but not in non-parasitic birds, and that parasitic cowbirds can discriminate between eggs of their own species and the eggs of their hosts or other brood parasites. © 2006 The Authors. Fil:Llambías, P.E. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Fil:Reboreda, J.C. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. 2006 https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_01791613_v112_n11_p1128_Llambias http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_01791613_v112_n11_p1128_Llambias
institution	Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str	I-28
repository_str	R-134
collection	Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic	artificial nest behavioral ecology brood parasitism experimental study passerine sex determination songbird Aves Molothrus Molothrus bonariensis
spellingShingle	artificial nest behavioral ecology brood parasitism experimental study passerine sex determination songbird Aves Molothrus Molothrus bonariensis Llambías, Paulo Reboreda, Juan Carlos Egg discrimination and pecking behaviour in parasitic cowbirds
topic_facet	artificial nest behavioral ecology brood parasitism experimental study passerine sex determination songbird Aves Molothrus Molothrus bonariensis
description	We studied egg-pecking behaviour in males and females of three cowbird species: the shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis), a host generalist brood parasite, the screaming cowbird (M. rufoaxillaris), a host specialist brood parasite, and the bay-winged cowbird (Agelaioides badius), a non-parasitic species. We conducted three experiments in which we offered each bird an artificial nest with two plaster eggs and recorded whether egg pecking occurred and the number of pecks on each egg. In expt 1, we tested if there were species and sex differences in egg-pecking behaviour by offering the birds two spotted eggs of similar pattern. Shiny and screaming cowbirds responded in 40.3% and 44% of the trials, respectively, with females and males presenting similar levels of response. In contrast, bay-winged cowbirds did not show any response. In expt 2, we tested if shiny cowbirds responded differentially when they faced a choice between one host and one shiny cowbird egg, while in expt 3, we tested if screaming cowbirds responded differentially when they faced a choice between one shiny and one screaming cowbird egg. Shiny cowbirds pecked preferentially host eggs while screaming cowbirds pecked more frequently shiny cowbird eggs. Our results show that egg-pecking behaviour is present in both sexes of parasitic cowbirds, but not in non-parasitic birds, and that parasitic cowbirds can discriminate between eggs of their own species and the eggs of their hosts or other brood parasites. © 2006 The Authors.
author	Llambías, Paulo Reboreda, Juan Carlos
author_facet	Llambías, Paulo Reboreda, Juan Carlos
author_sort	Llambías, Paulo
title	Egg discrimination and pecking behaviour in parasitic cowbirds
title_short	Egg discrimination and pecking behaviour in parasitic cowbirds
title_full	Egg discrimination and pecking behaviour in parasitic cowbirds
title_fullStr	Egg discrimination and pecking behaviour in parasitic cowbirds
title_full_unstemmed	Egg discrimination and pecking behaviour in parasitic cowbirds
title_sort	egg discrimination and pecking behaviour in parasitic cowbirds
publishDate	2006
url	https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_01791613_v112_n11_p1128_Llambias http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_01791613_v112_n11_p1128_Llambias
work_keys_str_mv	AT llambiaspaulo eggdiscriminationandpeckingbehaviourinparasiticcowbirds AT reboredajuancarlos eggdiscriminationandpeckingbehaviourinparasiticcowbirds
_version_	1768545597016506368

Egg discrimination and pecking behaviour in parasitic cowbirds

Ejemplares similares