Great spotted cuckoos show dynamic patterns of host selection during the breeding season. The importance of laying stage and parasitism status of magpie nests
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2020Resumen
Avian brood parasites depend entirely on their hosts to raise their nestlings until independence. Thus, parasite females should select suitable
host nests for egg laying according to traits that enhance offspring survival. The availability of nests of certain characteristics influencing
the survival of parasitic offspring is, however, temporally dynamic and, thus, patterns of host selection should be evaluated considering
characteristics of available host nests the day of parasitism. This allows detecting possible seasonal changes and, therefore, a more realistic picture of host selection by brood parasites. In this paper, we adopt such a new approach and consider daily availability of magpie (Pica
pica) host nests at different breeding stage that were or were not parasitized by the great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius). Theory predicts that cuckoos should select host nests at the laying stage. Accordingly, we detected that cuckoos preferred to parasitize magpie nests
at the laying stage but, mainly, those that already harbored one or two cuckoo eggs, which may seem counterintuitive. We also showed
that patterns of host selection by cuckoos varied during the breeding season, which implies that brood parasite–host interaction is dynamic
depending on phenology. These patterns are hidden when not considering the temporally dynamic nature of the availability of host nests
of characteristics of interest. We discuss the importance of such patterns and considering diary hosts nests availability for detecting them.