Nest desertion cannot be considered an egg‐rejection mechanism in a medium‐sized host: an experimental study with the common blackbird Turdus merula

• Published in: Journal of avian biology 2015-07, Vol.46 (4), p.369-377
• Main Authors: Soler, Manuel, Ruiz‐Raya, Francisco, Roncalli, Gianluca, Ibáñez‐Álamo, Juan Diego
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: birds; breeding; brood parasitism; color; Cuculus canorus; eggs; hosts; nesting; nests; parasites; Turdus merula; vision
• ISSN: 0908-8857; 1600-048X
• DOI: 10.1111/jav.00571

Two main mechanisms of egg rejection, the main defence of hosts against brood parasites, have been described: ejection and desertion. Desertion of the parasitized nest is much more costly and is usually exhibited by small‐sized host species unable to remove the parasitic egg. However, nest desertion is frequently assumed to be an anti‐parasite strategy even in medium or large‐sized host species. This assumption should be considered with caution because: 1) large‐sized hosts able to eject the parasitic egg should eject it rather than desert the nest, and 2) breeding birds may desert their nests in response to different disturbances other than brood parasitism. This problem is especially important in the common blackbird Turdus merula because this is a medium‐sized species, potential host of the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus, in which desertion has been frequently reported as a response to cuckoo egg models. Here, we seek to determine whether nest desertion can be considered a response unequivocally directed to the parasitic egg in medium‐sized hosts using the blackbird as the study species. In an experimental study in which we have manipulated levels of mimicry and size of experimental eggs, we have found that both colour (mimetic and non‐mimetic; at least for human vision) and size (small, medium, and large) significantly affected ejection rates but not nest desertion rates. In fact, although large eggs disproportionally provoked nest desertion more frequently than did small or medium‐sized eggs, cuckoo‐sized parasitic eggs were not deserted allowing us to conclude that desertion is unlikely to be an adaptive response to brood parasitism at least for this species.