Short Communications
January 27 2021
Vol. 90 No. 2 (2020)
Copying nesting attempts in a new site may be the wrong choice. A case in the European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster)
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All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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Insistent nesting attempts by a group of European Beeeaters in a new site, a pebbly bank of the middle course of Trebbia River, northern Italy, mostly failed because of the unmovable pebbles encountered during tunnel excavation. The birds later nested in an artificial sand heap, with full success that time. Various considerations suggest that birds insisted in the unsuitable site because they copied the nesting activity of model conspecifics. Finding social attraction and “public information” from conspecifics in a place where no breeding attempt was previously made would allow disentangling social philopatry from spatial philopatry.
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How to Cite
Copying nesting attempts in a new site may be the wrong choice. A case in the European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster). (2021). Rivista Italiana Di Ornitologia, 90(2). https://doi.org/10.4081/rio.2020.478
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