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...
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todo:paper_01791613_v112_n11_p1128_Llambias2023-10-03T15:08:30Z Egg discrimination and pecking behaviour in parasitic cowbirds Llambías, P.E. Ferretti, V. Reboreda, J.C. 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. JOUR info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar 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 |
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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, P.E. Ferretti, V. Reboreda, J.C. 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. |
| format |
JOUR |
| author |
Llambías, P.E. Ferretti, V. Reboreda, J.C. |
| author_facet |
Llambías, P.E. Ferretti, V. Reboreda, J.C. |
| author_sort |
Llambías, P.E. |
| 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 |
| url |
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_01791613_v112_n11_p1128_Llambias |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT llambiaspe eggdiscriminationandpeckingbehaviourinparasiticcowbirds AT ferrettiv eggdiscriminationandpeckingbehaviourinparasiticcowbirds AT reboredajc eggdiscriminationandpeckingbehaviourinparasiticcowbirds |
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