Decoupled Acoustic and Visual Components in the Multimodal Signals of the Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)

Because of its parasitic habits, reproduction costs of the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) are mostly spent in pre-laying activities. Female costs are limited to searching host nests and laying eggs, whereas, males spend time in performing intense vocal displays, possibly with territorial purpose. This last aspect, together with a sexual plumage dimorphism, points to both intra- and inter-sexual selections operating within this species. One element triggering sexual selection is a differential fitness accrued by different phenotypes. Before analyzing possible sexual selection mechanisms operating in cuckoos, it is therefore necessary to verify whether there is a variability among male secondary characters by describing and quantifying them. Here we aimed to quantitatively characterize the main two potential candidates of sexual selection traits, i.e., calls and displays, shown by males at perches. During the 2019 breeding season, in a site within the Po Plain, we both audio and video recorded cuckoo males at five different perches. We analyzed acoustic variables as well as display sequences searching for potential correlations. We found a significant variation among calls that could be clustered into four vocal types. We also found that no visual displays were associated with vocal displays; cuckoo males were either vocal and motionless or soundless and active. We discuss our results under the perspective of the potential value of sexual selection in brood parasites and its role in its parasitic habit.

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Behavioral and Acoustic Responses of the Oriental Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus orientalis), at Egg and Nestling Stages, to the Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution ◽

10.3389/fevo.2021.705748 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Jiaojiao Wang ◽

Laikun Ma ◽

Xiangyang Chen ◽

Canchao Yang

Keyword(s):

Alarm Calls ◽

Specific Information ◽

Cuculus Canorus ◽

Common Cuckoo ◽

Accipiter Nisus ◽

Dynamic Risk Assessment ◽

Reproduction Costs ◽

The Common ◽

Streptopelia Orientalis ◽

Acoustic Responses

Cuckoo nest parasites lay eggs in host nests and thereby transfer all reproduction costs to the hosts. This greatly reduces host fitness. Parasitism has selected for the evolution of anti-parasitic strategies in hosts, including nest defense. The dynamic risk assessment hypothesis holds that nest parasitism only threatens the nests during the egg stage, so hosts should reduce the level of defense against nest parasites after the egg stage. We studied the behavioral and acoustic responses of oriental reed warblers (Acrocephalus orientalis), during both the egg and nestling stages, toward the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), sparrowhawks (Accipiter nisus) and oriental turtle doves (Streptopelia orientalis). A. orientalis can visually distinguish cuckoos from sparrowhawks and doves, indicating that hawk mimicry did not work for the cuckoos. The behavioral response of hosts in the nestling stage was stronger than in the egg stage, which supports the offspring value hypothesis and suggests that cuckoos may also act as nest predators. However, there was no difference in the alarm calls A. orientalis produce in response to different invaders, indicating that different types of alarm calls may not contain specific information.

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Fast and furious: host aggression modulates behaviour of brood parasites

10.1101/2020.04.27.063933 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Václav Jelínek ◽

Michal Šulc ◽

Gabriela Štětková ◽

Marcel Honza

Keyword(s):

Brood Parasitism ◽

Egg Laying ◽

Nest Defence ◽

Great Reed Warbler ◽

Acrocephalus Arundinaceus ◽

Brood Parasite ◽

Cuculus Canorus ◽

Common Cuckoo ◽

Brood Parasites ◽

The Common

ABSTRACTAvian brood parasites pose a serious threat for hosts, substantially reducing their fitness which selects for the evolution of host defences. A classic example of a host frontline defence is mobbing which frequently includes contact attacking of brood parasites. Here, we investigated how the nest defence of a very aggressive great reed warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) host influences the speed of egg-laying and egg-removing behaviour of its brood parasite – the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). We video-recorded 168 brood parasitic events at 102 active host nests and found that cuckoos avoided host mobbing in only 62% of cases. If hosts spotted the cuckoo at their nests, they almost always attacked it (in 91 of 104 cases), however, such attacks only rarely and temporarily prevented cuckoos from parasitizing (11 additional cases). When attacked, cuckoos parasitized host nests significantly faster and left them immediately. However, when not attacked, cuckoos frequently stayed at or near the nest suggesting that host aggression, rather than the risk of being spotted, influences the speed of brood parasitism in this species. Further, we found that cuckoos performed egg-removing behaviour in all parasitic events without regard to host aggression. As a result, cuckoos removed at least one egg during all brood parasitism events except those when an egg slipped from their beaks and fell back into the nest (in 9 of 73 cases). This indicates that egg-removing behaviour is not costly for the common cuckoo and is an essential part of its parasitism strategy, widening understanding of this currently unexplained behaviour.

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Killing behaviour of adult brood parasites

Behaviour ◽

10.1163/1568539x-bja10033 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 157 (12-13) ◽

pp. 1099-1111 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

M. Šulc ◽

G. Štětková ◽

V. Jelínek ◽

B. Czyż ◽

A. Dyrcz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Video Recording ◽

Camera Traps ◽

Cuculus Canorus ◽

Common Cuckoo ◽

Brood Parasites ◽

The Common

Abstract Decades of studies have revealed the striking adaptations of avian brood parasites for their unique reproductive lifestyle. Several have reported that adult brood parasites sometimes kill host nestlings, although the reasons for this behaviour remain unclear. Using continuous video-recording and camera traps, we observed the same behaviour in the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus, showing that both host and parasite nestlings can be killed. The latter has never previously been observed in cuckoos. Here, we review this phenomenon and discuss possible explanations.

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Sperm morphology of avian brood parasites: the Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus and Oriental Cuckoo C. optatus

The Korean Journal of Ornithology ◽

10.30980/kjo.2020.12.27.2.120 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 27 (2) ◽

pp. 120-131

Author(s):

Geun-Won Bae ◽

Sue-Jeong Jin ◽

Jin-Won Lee ◽

Jeong-Chil Yoo

Keyword(s):

Sperm Morphology ◽

Cuculus Canorus ◽

Common Cuckoo ◽

Brood Parasites ◽

The Common

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Cuckoo chicks evicting their nest mates: coincidental observations by Edward Jenner in England and Antoine Joseph Lottinger in France

Archives of Natural History ◽

10.3366/anh.2011.0030 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 38 (2) ◽

pp. 220-228 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Spencer G. Sealy ◽

Mélanie F. Guigueno

Keyword(s):

Royal Society ◽

Cuculus Canorus ◽

Common Cuckoo ◽

Cuckoo Chick ◽

The Common ◽

Made In ◽

Royal Society Of London

For centuries, naturalists were aware that soon after hatching the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) chick became the sole occupant of the fosterer's nest. Most naturalists thought the adult cuckoo returned to the nest and removed or ate the fosterer's eggs and young, or the cuckoo chick crowded its nest mates out of the nest. Edward Jenner published the first description of cuckoo chicks evicting eggs and young over the side of the nest. Jenner's observations, made in England in 1786 and 1787, were published by the Royal Society of London in 1788. Four years before Jenner's observations, in 1782, Antoine Joseph Lottinger recorded eviction behaviour in France and published his observations in Histoire du coucou d'Europe, in 1795. The importance of Lottinger's and Jenner's observations is considered together.

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Analysis of genetic differentiation of host races of the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus using mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA variation

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.1996.0015 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 263 (1366) ◽

pp. 89-96 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Keyword(s):

Genetic Differentiation ◽

Microsatellite Dna ◽

Cuculus Canorus ◽

Common Cuckoo ◽

Host Races ◽

Dna Variation ◽

The Common

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Host Recognition of Brood Parasites: Implications for Methodology in Studies of Enemy Recognition

The Auk ◽

10.1093/auk/122.2.530 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 122 (2) ◽

pp. 530-543 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Tomáš Grim

Keyword(s):

Traditional Approach ◽

Columba Livia ◽

Host Recognition ◽

Brood Parasite ◽

Common Cuckoo ◽

Brood Parasites ◽

Accurate Picture ◽

Rock Pigeon ◽

The Common ◽

Enemy Recognition

AbstractVarious studies have shown that experiments on nest defense and enemy recognition (e.g. recognition of adult brood parasites) can be confounded by many factors. However, no study has described a confounding effect of control dummy type. Here, I show experimentally that the choice of control dummy may influence the results of an experiment and lead to erroneous conclusions. I tested recognition abilities of the Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), currently a host rarely used by the Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). Blackcaps responded very differently to two kinds of control dummies: they ignored the Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula) dummy, but attacked the Rock Pigeon (Columba livia) dummy as frequently as they attacked the Common Cuckoo. The differing results may be explained by the fact that the Rock Pigeon is more similar to the Common Cuckoo than the Eurasian Blackbird is, and consequently elicited more aggressive behavior than the latter. Thus, absence of discrimination in enemy-recognition studies may reflect a methodological artifact resulting from varying abilities of particular hosts to discriminate along a continuum of recognition cues. This result has serious methodological implications for further research on enemy recognition and aggression in general: a control dummy should not be too similar to the dummy brood parasite; otherwise, the chance of detecting existing recognition abilities is low. Further, I argue that coevolution only increases pre-existing aggression in the particular host species. Therefore, increment analysis (assessing changes in host antiparasitic responses during the nesting cycle while controlling for background aggression to control dummies) provides a more accurate picture of hosts' recognition abilities than the traditional approach (when the total level of antiparasitic response is analyzed).

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Heterospecific alarm-call recognition in two warbler hosts of common cuckoos

Animal Cognition ◽

10.1007/s10071-019-01307-9 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 22 (6) ◽

pp. 1149-1157 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Jiangping Yu ◽

Hailin Lu ◽

Wei Sun ◽

Wei Liang ◽

Haitao Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alarm Call ◽

Alarm Calls ◽

Reed Warbler ◽

Cuculus Canorus ◽

Common Cuckoo ◽

Playback Experiments ◽

Call Recognition ◽

Accipiter Nisus ◽

Main Host ◽

The Common

Abstract Species facing similar selection pressures should recognize heterospecific alarm signals. However, no study has so far examined heterospecific alarm-call recognition in response to parasitism by cuckoos. In this study, we tested whether two sympatric host species of the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus, Oriental reed warbler Acrocephalus orientalis (ORW, main host), and black-browed reed warbler Acrocephalus bistrigiceps (BRW, rare host), could recognize each other’s alarm calls in response to cuckoos. Dummies of common cuckoo (parasite) and Eurasian sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus (predator) were used to induce and record alarm calls of the two warbler species, respectively. In the conspecific alarm-call playback experiments, ORW responded more strongly to cuckoo alarm calls than to sparrowhawk alarm calls, while BRW responded less strongly to cuckoo alarm calls than to sparrowhawk alarm calls. In the heterospecific alarm-call playback experiments, both ORW and BRW responded less strongly to cuckoo alarm calls than sparrowhawk alarm calls. BRW seemed to learn the association between parasite-related alarm calls of the ORW and the cuckoo by observing the process of ORW attacking cuckoos. In contrast, alarm calls of BRW to cuckoos were rarely recorded in most cases. BRW with low parasite pressure still developed recognition of heterospecific parasite-related alarm call. Unintended receivers in the same community should recognize heterospecific alarm calls precisely to extract valuable information.

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