10.5061/DRYAD.T701851
Charter, Motti
University of Haifa
Izhaki, Ido
University of Haifa
Roulin, Alexandre
University of Lausanne
Data from: The presence of kleptoparasitic fledglings is associated with a
reduced breeding success in the host family in the barn owl
Dryad
dataset
2018
2018-05-03T13:56:44Z
2018-05-03T13:56:44Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.01770
10494 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Fledgling birds sometimes abandon their own nest and move to neighboring
nests where they are fed by host parents. This behaviour, referred to as
“nest‐switching”, is well known in precocial birds that are mobile soon
after hatching and can easily reach foster nests. In contrast, due to the
difficulty of observing nest‐switching in territorial altricial birds, the
causes and consequences of moving to others’ nests are poorly known in
this group of birds. Nest‐switchers can be adopted by the foster parents
or they can steal food from the host parents meant for their offspring, a
form of kleptoparasitism, which may result in reduced breeding success of
the host nest. In Israel, 12 barn owl fledglings left their natal nests
and were found in 9 host nests out of 111 monitored nests (8.1%).
Nest‐switchers that fledged earlier in the breeding season flew shorter
distances to reach host nests probably because the density of nests with
younger nestlings is higher early in the season. The number of host
nestlings fledged and the percentage of nestlings fledged was lower in
host nests than in nest without switchers. The occasional nest‐switchers
were always older than host nestlings (respectively 80 and 50 days of age,
on average) and host parents fledged fewer young when nest‐switchers
occupied host nests with younger nestlings. This suggests that
nest‐switchers are kleptoparasites because the presence of the older alien
fledglings is associated with a lower breeding success of the host
parents.
Charter et al. 2018 J Avian Biol Klepto DataBreeding data.