Parental care in the Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus): relative contribution of male and female
Abstract
Biparental care is common in birds, and is generally associated with monogamy and sexual monomorphism. The Vermilion Flycatcher, Phyrocephalus rubinus, is a socially monogamous species but it is sexually dimorphic in coloration. The aim of this work was to analyze sexual differences in biparental care during the incubation and chick feeding periods. We estimated the relative contribution of each sex to nest attention, incubation, and chicks brooding and feeding from video records of seven nests (three in incubation, two with small chicks and two with large chicks). The female, who had longer and more frequent nest visits than the male, performed nest attention during incubation almost exclusively. During the period with small chicks (days 1-4), the female assigned an important proportion of its time to brooding while the male fed his mate who frequently redistributed food between chicks. During the period of large chicks (days 8-12), the number of feeding visits of the female increased to values similar to males ones. Our results indicate that although this species show biparental care, there is an asymmetry in parental activities, with females spending more time at the nest than males.
References
- BAKER RR Y PARKER GA (1979) The evolution of bird coloration. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, Biological Sciences 287:63–130
- CAROTHERS SW (1974) Breeding ecology and time-energy budget of male Vermilion Flycatchers and comments on the social organization of southwestern riparian birds. PhD dissertation, University of Illinois, Chicago
- CLUTTON-BROCK TH (1991) The evolution of parental care. Princeton University Press, Princeton
- FRAGA RM (1977) Notas sobre la reproducción del Churrinche (Pyrocephalus rubinus). Hornero 11:380–383
- HILL GE (1990) Female house finches prefer colourful males: sexual selection for a condition-dependent trait. Animal Behaviour 40:563–572
- HILL GE (1991) Plumage coloration is a sexually selected indicator of male quality. Nature 350:337–339
- HOWELL S Y WEBBS S (2001) A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press, New York
- KENDEIGH SC (1952) Parental care and its evolution in birds. Illinois Biological Monograph 22:1–358
- LACK D (1968) Ecological adaptations for breeding in birds. Methuen, Londres
- LINVILLE SU, BREITWISCH R Y SCHILLING AJ (1998) Plumage brightness as an indicator of parental care in northern cardinals. Animal Behaviour 55:119–127
- MARTIN TE Y GHALAMBOR CK (1999) Males feeding females during incubation. I. Required by microclimate or constrained by nest predation? American Naturalist 153:131–139
- PAYNE RB (1984) Sexual selection, lek and arena behavior, and sexual size dimorphism in birds. Ornithological Monographs 33:1–53
- RIDGELY RS Y TUDOR G (1994) The birds of South America. Volume 2. The Suboscine passerines. University of Texas Press, Austin
- SILVER R, ANDREWS H Y BALL GF (1985) Parental care in an ecological perspective: a quantitative analysis of avian subfamilies. American Zoologist 25:823–840
- TAYLOR WK Y HANSON H (1970) Observations on the breeding biology of the Vermilion Flycatcher in Arizona. Wilson Bulletin 82:315–319
- TRAYLOR MA JR (1979) Subfamily Fluvicolinae. Pp. 112–186 en: TRAYLOR MA JR (ed) Check-list of birds of the world. Volume 8. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge
- VERNER J Y WILLSON MF (1969) Mating systems, sexual dimorphism and the role of male North American passerine birds in nesting cycle. Ornithological Monographs 9:1–76
- WOLF BO Y JONES SL (2000) Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus). Pp. 1–16 en: POOLE A Y GILL F (eds) The birds of North America. Academy of Natural Sciences y American Ornithologists' Union, Philadelphia y Washington DC
How to cite
Downloads
License: CC BY-NC 4.0