Behavior of radio-tracked Common Cuckoo females during the breeding season in Japan

Nakamura, Hiroshi; Miyazawa, Yoshitomo; Kashiwagi, Kenichi

doi:10.2326/osj.4.31

Cited by 38 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…We can explain these by host specificity of individual cuckoos, as revealed by radio-telemetry studies (i.e. each cuckoo female is specialized on one host type; Nakamura, Miyazawa & Kashiwagi, 2005). The cuckoo in our study site is likely to be originated from those specialized on the black-faced bunting.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Adaptations in the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) to host eggs in a multiple-hosts system of brood parasitism

Takasu

Moskát

Muñoz

et al. 2009

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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The common cuckoo Cuculus canorus parasitism greatly reduces the reproductive success of its hosts and imposes strong selection pressure for hosts to evolve defences against parasitism, such as the ability to recognize and reject dissimilar parasitic eggs, which, in turn, selects for better egg mimicry by the cuckoo. In the co-evolutionary interaction, however, it remains unknown how the cuckoo successfully expanded its range of host usage and how they developed egg mimicry. Most previous studies were conducted in areas where a very few number of host species (i.e. one or two at most) are sympatric with the cuckoo. Several host species, however, breed sympatric with the cuckoo and have been parasitized in the study site in Nagano, central Japan. Such a multiple-hosts system will provide valuable insights for understanding the cuckoo-hosts interactions in the past. In the present study, we report quantitative profiles of eggs based on spectrometer reflectance for four major host species and the corresponding cuckoo gentes. The hosts include the oriental reed warbler (Acrocephalus orientalis), bull-headed shrike (Lanius bucephalus), azure-winged magpie (Cyanopica cyana), and black-faced bunting (Emberiza spodocephala). We show that (1) egg morphs of each host and corresponding cuckoo gens can be categorized by two chromatic components of reflectance spectra and (2) there is a significant difference in a particular chroma component between hosts and the cuckoo. We suggest that the cuckoo parasitism in central Japan originated from parasitism on the black-faced bunting.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Adaptations in the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) to host eggs in a multiple-hosts system of brood parasitism

Takasu

Moskát

Muñoz

et al. 2009

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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“…This latter possibility is in accordance with the finding of Nakamura et al . (), who showed that one Cuckoo female visited at least 16 host nests in her territory but parasitized only nine of them.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nakamura et al . () reported that a female Cuckoo laid an egg into the nest of an Oriental Reed Warbler Acrocephalus orientalis at the ninth attempt, despite always being attacked by up to four Warblers. Similarly, host aggressiveness does not prevent brood parasitism in several cowbird host species (Gill et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Common Cuckoos Cuculus canorus change their nest‐searching strategy according to the number of available host nests

Jelínek

Procházka

Požgayová

et al. 2013

Ibis

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In recent decades, numerous studies have examined factors affecting risk of host nest parasitism in well‐known avian host–parasite systems; however, little attention has been paid to the role of host nest availability. In accordance with other studies, we found that nest visibility, reed density and timing of breeding predicted brood parasitism of Great Reed Warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus by the Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus. More interestingly, hosts had a greater chance of escaping brood parasitism if nesting was synchronized. Cuckoo nest searching was governed primarily by nest visibility at high host‐nest density. However, even well‐concealed nests were likely to be parasitized during periods when just a few hosts were laying eggs, suggesting that Cuckoos adjust their nest‐searching strategy in relation to the availability of host nests. Our results demonstrate that host vulnerability to brood parasitism varies temporally and that Cuckoo females are able to optimize their nest‐searching strategy. Moreover, our study indicated that Cuckoos always manage to find at least some nests to parasitize. Thus, in this case, the co‐evolutionary arms race should take place mainly in the form of parasitic egg rejection rather than via frontline pre‐parasitism defence.

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“…The Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus, hereafter "the cuckoo"), one of the most well studied obligate brood parasites, has many different egg phenotypes, called "gentes" or "races" that are distinguishable among each other and show hostspecific lineages Marchetti et al 1998;Gibbs et al 2000;Fossøy et al 2011Fossøy et al , 2016. The existence of these gentes is probably maintained by the tendency of the cuckoo to choose its host actively, as a result of host imprinting, a phenomenon that has previously been reported by various investigators (Wyllie 1981;Honza et al 2001Honza et al , 2002Avilés and Møller 2004;Nakamura et al 2005). However, how individual cuckoos specifically choose their hosts within a single species of birds, in particular following the matching between their own eggs and those of their hosts, has been a subject of great debate Yang et al 2015b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Egg-spot matching in common cuckoo parasitism of the oriental reed warbler: effects of host nest availability and egg rejection

Ruan

Wang

et al. 2016

Avian Res

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Background:The success of cuckoo parasitism is thought to depend largely on the extent of egg matching between cuckoo and host eggs, since poor-matching cuckoo egg would lead to more frequent egg rejection by the host. In this study, we investigated how egg-spot matching between the Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) and its host, the Oriental Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus orientalis) is affected by the local parasitism rate, nest availability in breeding synchronization and egg rejection. Methods:We used the paired design of parasitized and their nearest non-parasitized nests where breeding occurred simultaneously to compare egg-spot matching. The image analysis was used to compare four eggshell pattern variables, namely spot size, density, coverage on the different areas of egg surface, and the distribution on the whole egg surface. Egg recognition experiments were conducted to test the effect of egg spots on egg rejection by the host. Results:Our results show that much better matching in almost all spot parameters tested on the side of the egg and the spot distribution on the whole egg occurred in parasitized nests than in non-parasitized nests. Matching of spot density between cuckoo and host eggs in parasitized nests increased with the synchronization between temporal availability of nests and the egg-laying period of female cuckoos. Egg recognition experiments in which the warbler eggs were deliberately painted with extra spots led to a significantly higher egg rejection rate (78.3%) than of unpainted eggs. Conclusion:Our data suggest that both the high temporal encounter rate between cuckoo and warbler nests as well as the high egg rejection ability of the host are important factors for egg-spot matching of the cuckoos.

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Behavior of radio-tracked Common Cuckoo females during the breeding season in Japan

Cited by 38 publications

References 4 publications

Adaptations in the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) to host eggs in a multiple-hosts system of brood parasitism

Adaptations in the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) to host eggs in a multiple-hosts system of brood parasitism

Common Cuckoos Cuculus canorus change their nest‐searching strategy according to the number of available host nests

Egg-spot matching in common cuckoo parasitism of the oriental reed warbler: effects of host nest availability and egg rejection

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