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Provisioning of nestling Cuckoos Cuculus canorus by Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus hosts
Publication Type: | Journal Article |
Year of Publication: | 1989 |
Authors: | M. Brooke, deL, Davies, NB |
Journal: | Ibis |
Volume: | 131 |
Issue: | 2 |
Date Published: | 1989 |
ISBN Number: | 1474-919X |
Keywords: | Acrocephalidae, Acrocephalus, Acrocephalus scirpaceus, Columba, Columba palumbus, Columbidae, Cuculidae, Cuculus, Cuculus canorus, Notiocichla, Notiocichla scirpacea, Sollicitus, Sollicitus scirpaceus |
Abstract: | Reed Warblers Acrocephalus scirpaceus fostering a single nestling Cuckoo Cuculus canorus bring food to it at roughly the same rate as they do to an average-sized brood (three or four) of their own young. The food brought, mostly flies and beetles, is also similar. We conclude that the Cuckoo does not provide a supernormal stimulus. We show that Reed Warblers, given experimentally-enlarged broods of seven or eight, can substantially increase their feeding rate. This raises the question of why the young Cuckoo does not exploit this ‘spare’ feeding capacity of the Reed Warbler hosts. We offer three explanations', (i) that the increased begging necessary would attract predators, (ii) that the young Cuckoo is unable to grow faster, and (iii) that it would not be to the advantage of a young Cuckoo, dependent on its foster parents for about 5 weeks (cf. 3 weeks for Reed Warbler young), to provoke a feeding rate that the warblers could not sustain. |
URL: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919X.1989.tb02767.x |
Short Title: | Ibis |
Taxonomic name:
Acrocephalidae (Birds),
Acrocephalus (Birds),
Acrocephalus scirpaceus (Birds),
Columba (Birds),
Columba palumbus (Birds),
Columba Palumbus (Birds),
Columbidae (Birds),
Cuculidae (Birds),
Cuculus (Birds),
Cuculus canorus (Birds),
Cuculus canorus (Birds)
Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical):
Ed Baker,
Katherine Bouton
Alice Heaton
Dimitris Koureas,
Laurence Livermore,
Dave Roberts,
Simon Rycroft,
Ben Scott,
Vince Smith