Parents take both size and conspicuousness into account when feeding nestlings in dark cavity nests

Animal Behaviour

Volumn 84, Issue 6, 2012, Pages 1307-1312

  Wiebe, Karen L ^a   Slagsvold, Tore ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN   (Canada)

^b UNIVERSITY OF OSLO   (Norway)

Author keywords

Begging; Bird; Coloration; Detection; Hatching asynchrony; Provisioning

Indexed keywords

BEGGING BEHAVIOR; BODY SIZE; BROOD REARING; COLOR; FOOD PROVISIONING; HATCHING; NEST; NESTLING; NESTMATE RECOGNITION; SIBLING; SONGBIRD; TREEHOLE;

AVES; COLAPTES; COLAPTES AURATUS; FICEDULA HYPOLEUCA; PARUS MAJOR;

EID: 84870436784     PISSN: 00033472     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.09.014     Document Type: Article

References (42)

1. Avilés J.M., Pérez-Conteras T., Navarro C., Soler J.J. Dark nests and conspicuous color patterns of nestlings of altricial birds. American Naturalist 2008, 171:327-338.
2. Bize P., Piault R., Moureau B., Heeb P. A UV signal of offspring condition mediates context-dependent parental favoritism. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 2006, 272:2063-2068.
3. Clark A.B. Gapes of sexually dimorphic blackbird nestlings do not show sexually dimorphic growth. Auk 1995, 112:364-374.
4. De Ayala R.M., Saino N., Møller A.P., Anselmi C. Mouth coloration of nestlings covaries with offspring quality and influences parental feeding behavior. Behavioral Ecology 2007, 18:526-534.
5. Dugas M.B. Cross-fostering reveals that among-brood differences in ornamental mouth coloration mostly reflect rearing conditions in house sparrows. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 2012, 106:169-179.
6. Ewen J.G., Thorogood R., Karadas F., Cassey P. Condition dependence of nestling mouth color and the effect of supplementing carotenoids on parental behavior in the hihi (Notiomystis cincta). Oecologia 2008, 157:361-368.
7. Ficken M.S. Mouth color of nestling passerines and its use in taxonomy. Wilson Bulletin 1965, 77:71-75.
8. Fisher R.J., Wiebe K.L. Nest site attributes and temporal patterns of northern flicker nest loss: effects of predation and competition. Oecologia 2006, 147:744-753.
9. Forbes S., Thornton S., Glassey B., Forbes M., Buckley N.J. Why parent birds play favourites. Nature 1997, 390:351-352.
10. Gil D., Bulmer E., Celis P., López I. Adaptive developmental plasticity in growing nestlings: sibling competition induces differential gape growth. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 2008, 275:549-554.
11. Godfray H.C.J. Signalling of need between parents and young: parent-offspring conflict and sibling rivalry. American Naturalist 1995, 146:1-24.
12. Heeb P., Schwander T., Faoro S. Nestling detectability affects parental feeding preferences in a cavity-nesting bird. Animal Behaviour 2003, 66:637-642.
13. Holveck M.J., Doutrelant C., Guerreiro R., Perret P., Gomez D., Grégoire A. Can eggs in a cavity be a female secondary sexual signal? Male nest visits and modeling of egg visual discrimination in blue tits. Biological Letters 2010, 6:453-457.
14. Johnstone R.A., Godfray H.C.J. Models of begging as a signal of need. The Evolution of Begging: Competition, Cooperation and Communication 2002, 1-20. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht. J. Wright, M.L. Leonard (Eds.).
15. Jourdie V., Moureau B., Bennett A.T.D., Heeb P. Ultraviolet reflectance by the skin of nestlings. Nature 2004, 431:262.
16. Kilham L. Life History Studies of Woodpeckers of Eastern North America 1983, Nuttall Ornithological Club, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
17. Kilner R.M. A growth cost of begging in captive canary chicks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 2001, 98:11394-11398.
18. Kilner R.M. Function and evolution of color in young birds. Bird Coloration. Vol. 1: Mechanisms and Measurements 2006, 210-232. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. G.E. Hill, K. McGraw (Eds.).
19. Kilner R.M., Davies N.B. Nestling mouth colour: ecological correlates of a begging signal. Animal Behaviour 1998, 56:705-712.
20. Kilner R.M., Johnstone R.A. Begging the question: are offspring solicitation behaviours signals of need?. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 1997, 12:11-15.
21. Kölliker M., Richner H. Navigation in a cup: chick positioning in great tit (Parus major) nests. Animal Behaviour 2004, 68:1005-1012.
22. Lack D. The significance of clutch-size. Ibis 1947, 89:302-352.
23. Leonard M.L., Horn A.G. Provisioning rules in tree swallows. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 1996, 38:341-347.
24. Litovich E., Power H.W. Parent-offspring conflict and its resolution in the European starling. Ornithological Monographs 1992, 47:1-71.
25. Mock D.W., Parker G.A. The Evolution of Sibling Rivalry 1997, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
26. Ostreiher R. The importance of nestling location for obtaining food in open cup-nests. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 2001, 49:340-347.
27. Parker G.A., Mock D.W., Lamey T.C. How selfish should stronger sibs be?. American Naturalist 1989, 133:846-868.
28. Reynolds S.J., Martin G.R., Cassey P. Is sexual selection blurring the functional significance of eggshell coloration hypotheses?. Animal Behaviour 2009, 78:209-215.
29. Rodríguez-Gironés M.A., Zúñiga J.M., Redondo T. Feeding experience and relative size modify the begging strategies of nestlings. Behavioral Ecology 2002, 13:782-785.
30. Royle J.N., Hartley I.R., Parker G.A. Begging for control: when are offspring solicitation behaviours honest?. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 2002, 17:434-440.
31. Saino N., Ambrosini R., Martinelli R., Ninni P., Møller A.P. Gape coloration reliably reflects immunocompetence of barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) nestlings. Behavioral Ecology 2003, 14:16-22.
32. Shiao M.-T., Chuang M.-C., Wang Y. Differential food distribution by male and female green-backed tits (Parus monticolus) in relation to nestling size. Auk 2009, 126:906-914.
33. Slagsvold T., Rohwer S. Behavioral domination of food delivery by tree swallow nestlings. Wilson Bulletin 2000, 112:278-281.
34. Slagsvold T., Amundsen T., Dale S. Selection by sexual conflict for evenly-spaced offspring in blue tits. Nature 1994, 370:136-138.
35. Trivers R.L. Parent-offspring conflict. American Zoologist 1974, 14:249-264.
36. Wesołowski T., Maziarz M. Dark tree cavities: a challenge for hole-nesting birds?. Journal of Avian Biology 2012, 43:454-460.
37. Wiebe K.L. A supplemental function of the avian egg tooth. Condor 2010, 112:1-7.
38. Wiebe K.L., Bortolotti G.R. Food supply and hatching spans of birds: energy constraints or facultative manipulation?. Ecology 1994, 75:813-823.
39. Wiebe K.L., Bortolotti G.R. Parental interference in sibling aggression in birds: what should we look for?. Ecoscience 2000, 7:1-9.
40. Wiebe K.L., Gerstmar H. Influence of spring temperatures and individual traits on reproductive timing and success in a migratory woodpecker. Auk 2010, 127:917-925.
41. Wiebe K.L., Slagsvold T. Mouth colouration in nestling birds: increasing detection or signaling quality?. Animal Behaviour 2009, 78:1413-1420.
42. Wright J., Leonard M.L. The Evolution of Begging 2002, Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht.