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Sex roles during post-fledging care in birds: female Tengmalm’s Owls contribute little to food provisioning

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Abstract

Post-fledging care constitutes a large proportion of the total costs of parental care in many bird species. Despite being recognized as of critical importance to the survival of the offspring and their recruitment into the breeding population, post-fledging care, including the relative contribution by male and female parents, is under-studied. In this study, we quantified food provisioning (prey deliveries) by male and female Tengmalm’s Owl (Aegolius funereus) parents to their offspring both in the nestling and the post-fledging stages, in years of differing natural prey abundance. Parents and at least one offspring in 26 families were fitted with radio-transmitters. Male parents exhibited higher delivery rates than did females throughout the late nestling and post-fledging stages, but the intersexual difference was smaller in broods that were not deserted by the female at any stage. The female deserted her mate and offspring at some stage in 63% of the broods. Overall, deserted males delivered more prey to their offspring than did non-deserted males. Delivery rates were generally higher post-fledging. Prey delivery rates differed among years, and were highest in low vole years (probably because of smaller prey items), intermediate in peak vole years, and lowest in years of vole increase. Prey delivery rates increased with increasing brood size for both sexes, but the response was stronger in females. We suggest that female Tengmalm’s Owls contribute less than males because they are in a position to decide on their level of provisioning effort first, and because of the potential for re-mating after deserting the first brood.

Zusammenfassung

Geschlechterrollen bei der Fürsorge für Flügglinge: Weibliche Raufußkäuze tragen wenig zur Futterversorgung bei

Die Fürsorge für Flügglinge macht bei vielen Vogelarten einen großen Anteil der Gesamtkosten der Brutpflege aus. Obwohl bekannt ist, dass die Fürsorge für Flügglinge von entscheidender Bedeutung für das Überleben der Nachkommen und ihre Rekrutierung in die Brutpopulation ist, ist dieser Aspekt der Brutpflege, einschließlich des relativen Beitrags von Männchen und Weibchen, nicht gut untersucht. In dieser Studie haben wir in Jahren mit unterschiedlicher natürlicher Beuteabundanz quantifiziert, wie männliche und weibliche Raufußkäuze (Aegolius funereus) ihre Nachkommen mit Futter versorgten, sowohl im Nestlingsstadium als auch nach dem Ausfliegen. Die Elternvögel und mindestens ein Jungvogel aus 26 Familien wurden mit Radiosendern ausgestattet. Männchen wiesen während des späten Nestlingsstadiums und nach dem Ausfliegen höhere Fütterraten auf als Weibchen, aber der Unterschied zwischen den Geschlechtern war geringer in Bruten, die nicht zu irgendeinem Zeitpunkt vom Weibchen verlassen wurden. Das Weibchen verließ irgendwann seinen Partner und seine Nachkommen in 63% der Bruten. Insgesamt brachten verlassene Männchen ihren Nachkommen mehr Beute als nicht verlassene. Die Fütterraten waren nach dem Ausfliegen generell höher. Sie unterschieden sich zwischen den Jahren und waren am höchsten in Jahren mit geringer Wühlmausabundanz (wahrscheinlich aufgrund kleinerer Beutestücke), mittel in Jahren mit höchster Wühlmausabundanz und niedrig in Jahren mit zunehmender Wühlmausabundanz. Die Fütterraten nahmen mit ansteigender Brutgröße für beide Geschlechter zu, doch die Antwort war bei Weibchen stärker ausgeprägt. Wir schlagen vor, dass weibliche Raufußkäuze einen geringeren Beitrag leisten als Männchen, da sie in der Lage sind, über das Ausmaß ihres Fütterungsaufwands zuerst zu entscheiden, und für sie die Möglichkeit besteht, sich nach Verlassen der ersten Brut wieder zu verpaaren.

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Acknowledgments

We thank O. Heie, E.J. Hildrum, I. Løvdal, and H. Vognild for assistance in the field; R. Bjørnstad, G. Nyhus, the late F. Rønning, K. Skjærvik, O. Skjærvik, T. Wernberg, and E. Østby for finding some of the owl nests; and H. Antonsen, G. Fry, V. Selås, P. Sunde, J. O. Vik and three anonymous reviewers for comments on previous drafts of the manuscript. The Directorate for Nature Management and the National Animal Research Authority in Norway granted permission to trap and radio-tag the owls, and the Directorate for Nature Management granted permission to trap small mammals. The Research Council of Norway (grant no. 123604/410) and the Nansen Endowment (grants no. 75/96 and 81/97) provided financial support for the study.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

This study complies with Norwegian law; trapping, handling, radio-tagging and follow-up of radio-tagged individuals were done with permission from, and in accordance with, the ethical standards provided by, the Directorate for Nature Management and the National Animal Research Authority of Norway. An ethical note is given in Online Resource 1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, 1432, Ås, Norway

    Katrine Eldegard & Geir A. Sonerud

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  1. Katrine Eldegard
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  2. Geir A. Sonerud
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Correspondence to Katrine Eldegard.

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Communicated by T. Friedl.

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Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 3.

Table 3 Results of model selection procedure to determine which variables influenced prey deliveries to Tengmalm’s Owl broods; sex = sex of parent (male, female), stage = stage of breeding (late nestling, early post-fledging, late post-fledging), vole year = vole abundance (low, increase, peak), brood size = number of offspring alive when prey deliveries were monitored
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Appendix 2

See Table 4.

Table 4 Results of model selection procedure to determine which variables influenced prey deliveries to Tengmalm’s Owl broods receiving bi-parental care in the late nestling stage (n = 18 nests)
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Eldegard, K., Sonerud, G.A. Sex roles during post-fledging care in birds: female Tengmalm’s Owls contribute little to food provisioning. J Ornithol 153, 385–398 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-011-0753-7

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