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Female Blackcap Adoption of a Yellowhammer Clutch
Publication Type: | Journal Article |
Year of Publication: | 2000 |
Authors: | Čapek, Jr., M, Honza, M, Mrlík, V |
Journal: | The Wilson Bulletin |
Volume: | 112 |
Issue: | 4 |
Date Published: | 2000 |
ISBN Number: | 00435643 |
Keywords: | Citrinella, Emberiza, Emberiza citrinella, Emberizidae, Sylvia, Sylvia atricapilla, Sylviidae |
Abstract: | Four eggs in a Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) nest were incubated for one day by a female Yellowhammer but subsequently abandoned. The day following abandonment, the nest and the clutch were adopted by a female Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) who incubated the eggs until a single Yellowhammer nestling hatched; two eggs were depredated, and the embryo in the third egg was dead but well-developed. The young Yellowhammer was fed for 6 days until it was taken by a predator. Because there were no obvious benefits for the adopting female Blackcap, we speculate that the adoption resulted from misdirected parental behavior. |
URL: | http://www.jstor.org/stable/4164278 |
Short Title: | The Wilson Bulletin |
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