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Eavesdropping cuckoos: further insights on great spotted cuckoo preference by magpie nests and egg colour

  • Behavioral ecology - Original research
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Abstract

Reproductive success of brood parasites largely depends on appropriate host selection and, although the use of inadvertent social information emitted by hosts may be of selective advantage for cuckoos, this possibility has rarely been experimentally tested. Here, we manipulated nest size and clutch colouration of magpies (Pica pica), the main host of great spotted cuckoos (Clamator glandarius). These phenotypic traits may potentially reveal information about magpie territory and/or parental quality and could hence influence the cuckoo’s choice of host nests. Experimentally reduced magpie nests suffered higher predation rate, and prevalence of cuckoo parasitism was higher in magpie nests with the densest roofs, which suggests a direct advantage for great spotted cuckoos choosing this type of magpie nest. Colouration of magpie clutches was manipulated by adding one artificial egg (blue or cream colouration) at the beginning of the egg-laying period. We found that host nests holding an experimental cream egg experienced a higher prevalence of cuckoo parasitism than those holding a blue-coloured egg. Results from these two experiments suggest that great spotted cuckoos cue on magpie nest characteristics and the appearance of eggs to decide parasitism, and confirm, for the first time, the ability of cuckoos to distinguish between eggs of different colours within the nest of their hosts. Several hypothetical scenarios explaining these results are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

Comments by two anonymous reviewers substantially contribute to improve the quality and understanding of the article. Funding was provided by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia and European funds (FEDER) (CGL2010-19233-C03-01 to J.J.S, CGL2008-00718 and CGL2011-27561 to J.M.A., and CGL2011-25634/BOS to M.S.), and by JAE and “Juan de la Cierva” postdoctoral Grants from the CSIC and the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, respectively, to D.M.G. and L.D.N.. Permission for nest visits and experiments was granted by the Junta de Andalucía (Spanish Regional Government).

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  1. David Martín-Gálvez

    Present address: European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SD, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecología Funcional y Evolutiva, Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (CSIC), 4120, Almería, Spain

    Juan J. Soler, Jesús M. Avilés & David Martín-Gálvez

  2. Grupo Coevolución, Unidad Asociada al CSIC, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain

    Juan J. Soler, Jesús M. Avilés & Manuel Soler

  3. Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Department of Biology, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Liesbeth de Neve

  4. Departamento de Zoología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain

    Manuel Soler

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  1. Juan J. Soler
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Correspondence to Juan J. Soler.

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Communicated by Oliver P. Love.

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Soler, J.J., Avilés, J.M., Martín-Gálvez, D. et al. Eavesdropping cuckoos: further insights on great spotted cuckoo preference by magpie nests and egg colour. Oecologia 175, 105–115 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-014-2901-2

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