Begging and Provisioning in Broods of Asynchronously-Hatched Yellow-Headed Blackbird Nestlings

Studies of begging have found a positive relationship between begging level and provisioning level. Studies of unequal nestlings, however, have found that small nestlings generally beg more but are fed less than their larger siblings. We manipulated the begging levels of yellow-headed blackbird (Xan...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioral ecology and sociobiology 1995-09, Vol.37 (3), p.201-208
Main Authors: Price, Karen, Ydenberg, Ron
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal ethology
Animal vocalization
Aves
Biological and medical sciences
Bird nesting
Budgerigars
Chicks
Ecological competition
Food
Food deprivation
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hunger
Loudness
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Siblings
Vertebrata
Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Studies of begging have found a positive relationship between begging level and provisioning level. Studies of unequal nestlings, however, have found that small nestlings generally beg more but are fed less than their larger siblings. We manipulated the begging levels of yellow-headed blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) chicks to investigate how begging benefits individuals in broods of unequal siblings. Food-deprived chicks begged more and were fed more; satiated chicks begged less and were fed less. When we deprived each chick of a brood in turn, large and small chicks generally increased begging and received more provisioning. Small chicks, however, rarely received more food than their larger siblings even when they begged relatively more. Parent yellow-headed blackbirds increase provisioning to hungry begging chicks, but also allocate food based on relative offspring size.
ISSN:0340-5443
1432-0762
DOI:10.1007/BF00176718