Articles Open access

First documented case of Tawny Pipit Anthus campestris nest parasitism by common cuckoo Cuculus canorus in Spanish steppes

Authors

Published
19 December 2022
Section
Articles
DOI
10.4081/rio.2022.634
Pages
49-52

Abstract

Interspecific brood or nest parasitism is a relatively common breeding behavior in birds. Through this reproductive tactic, brood-parasites avoid the costs associated with raising and maintaining chicks by laying their eggs in the nests of the host species in which they are specialized. The common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) follows this brood parasite strategy. Female cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species, mimicking egg shape, size, and color of the host species. In this paper we report the first documented case of parasitism of tawny pipit nests by the common cuckoo in Spanish steppe habitats, where no record of parasitism on this species has been reported to date.

Keywords

References

  1. Avilés J. M. & Møller A. P., 2004 – How is host egg mimicry maintained in the cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)? Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 82 (1): 57-68. <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2004.00311.x> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2004.00311.x
  2. Avilés J. M. & Parejo D., 2011 – Host personalities and the evolution of behavioural adaptations in brood parasitic-host systems. Animal Behaviour, 82 (4): 613-618. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.07.025> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.07.025
  3. Baker E. C. S., 1942 – Cuckoo Problems. Witherby, London.
  4. Brooke M. de L. & Davies N. B., 1991 – A failure to demonstrate host imprinting in the cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) and alternative hypothesis for the maintenance of egg mimicry. Ethology, 89 (2): 154-166. <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1991.tb00301.x> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1991.tb00301.x
  5. Calero-Riestra M., 2015 – Ecología de la reproducción del bisbita campestre (Anthus campestris) en los páramos ibéricos. Tesis Doctoral. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
  6. Campobello D. & Sealy S. G., 2009 – Avian brood parasitism in a Mediterranean region: hosts and habitat preferences of common cuckoos Cuculus canorus. Bird Study, 56 (3): 389-400. <https://doi.org/10.1080/00063650903013221> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00063650903013221
  7. Campobello D. & Sealy S. G., 2020 – Avian brood parasitism in Italy: another perspective. Avocetta, 44 (1): 21-27. <https://doi.org/10.30456/AVO.2020107>
  8. Cramp S. & Simmons K. E. L., 2004 – Birds of the Western Palearctic interactive. DVD ROM. OUP/BirdGuides, Sheffield.
  9. Davies N. B., 2000 – Cuckoos, Cowbirds and other Cheats. T. & A. D. Poyser, London, UK.
  10. Gibbs H. L., Sorenson M. D., Marchetti K., Brooke M. de L., Davies N. B. & Nakamura H., 2000 – Genetic evidence for female host- specific races of the Common Cuckoo. Nature, 407 (6801): 183-186. <https://doi.org/10.1038/35025058> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35025058
  11. Honza M., Røskaft A., Røskaft E. & Stokke B. G., 2001 –
  12. How are different common cuckoo Cuculus canorus egg morphs maintained? An evaluation of different hypotheses. Ardea, 89 (2): 341-352.
  13. Lack D., 1968 – Ecological Adaptations for Breeding in Birds. Methuen & Co., London.
  14. Lowther P. E., 2015 – Host list of avian brood parasites. 2. Cuculiformes. Old World cuckoos. <https://www.fieldmuseum.org/sites/default/files/OW-cuckoos-26apr2013.pdf> (Last consulted: 2021/04/15).
  15. Marchetti K., Nakamura H. & Gibbs H. L., 1998 – Host- race formation in the Common Cuckoo. Science, 282 (5388): 471-472. <https://doi.org/10.1126/science.282.5388.471> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.282.5388.471
  16. Martín-Vivaldi M., Soler J. J., Møller A. P., Pérez-Contreras T. & Soler M., 2013 – The importance of nest-site and habitat in egg recognition ability of potential hosts of the Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus. Ibis, 155 (1): 140-155. <https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12000> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12000
  17. Moksnes A. & Røskaft E., 1987 – Cuckoo host interactions in Norwegian mountain areas. Ornis Scandinavica, 18 (3): 168-172. <https://doi.org/10.2307/3676762> DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3676762
  18. Moksnes A. & Røskaft E., 1995 – Egg-morphs and host preference in the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus): an analysis of cuckoo and host eggs from European museum collections. Journal of Zoology, 236 (4): 625-648. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1995.tb02736.x
  19. Payne R. B., Christie D. A. & Kirwan G. M., 2020 – Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), version 1.0. In: Birds of the World. J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A Christie & E. de Juana, eds. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. <https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.comcuc.01> DOI: https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.comcuc.01
  20. Teuschl Y., Taborsky B. & Taborsky M., 1998 – How do cuckoos find their hosts? The role of habitat imprinting. Animal Behaviour, 56 (6), 1425-1433. <https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.1998.0931> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.1998.0931
  21. Tyler S. & Christie D. A., 2020 – Tawny Pipit (Anthus campestris), version 1.0. In: Birds of the World. J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie & E. de Juana (eds.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. <https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.tawpip1.01> DOI: https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.tawpip1.01
  22. Wyllie I., 1981 – The Cuckoo. Batsford, London.
  23. Yanes M. & Suárez F., 1995 – Nest predation patterns in ground-nesting passerines on the Iberian Peninsula. Ecography, 18 (4): 423-428. <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.1995.tb00145.x> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.1995.tb00145.x

Metrics

Citations and online attention from Dimensions, Altmetric and PlumX.

PlumX Metrics

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Adrián Barrero, Julia Gómez-Catasús, Daniel Bustillo-de la Rosa, Juan Traba, Julia Zurdo, Margarita Reverter

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

PAGEPress has chosen to apply the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all manuscripts to be published.