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Cuckoo-hawk mimicry? An experimental test.

N B Davies1, J A Welbergen

  • 1Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK. n.b.davies@zoo.cam.ac.uk

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PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Small birds mistake common cuckoos for sparrowhawks, showing alarm to both. This hawk-like appearance in cuckoos may be an evolved trait to influence host behavior during brood parasitism.

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Area of Science:

  • Ornithology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Animal Behavior

Background:

  • Parasitic cuckoos (Cuculinae) often resemble Accipiter hawks in size, shape, and plumage.
  • This resemblance may be due to convergent evolution for camouflage or mimicry for protection or brood parasitism facilitation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if small birds perceive common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) as predators like sparrowhawks (Accipiter nisus).
  • To determine the role of plumage resemblance, specifically underpart barring, in eliciting alarm responses.

Main Methods:

  • Presented mounted specimens of common cuckoos, sparrowhawks, collared doves, and teal to great tits and blue tits.
  • Manipulated cuckoo plumage (barred vs. unbarred underparts) to assess the impact of specific features on alarm responses.
  • Monitored bird alarm levels and feeder attendance.

Main Results:

  • Small birds showed similar alarm responses and reduced feeder attendance to both common cuckoos and sparrowhawks, but not to control species.
  • Cuckoos with hawk-like barred underparts elicited a stronger alarm response than those with unbarred underparts.
  • Alarm responses were influenced by plumage features, suggesting naive birds can mistake cuckoos for hawks.

Conclusions:

  • Naive small birds can misidentify common cuckoos as sparrowhawks due to visual resemblance.
  • The cuckoo-hawk mimicry is likely an evolved strategy to influence host behavior, rather than solely for predator avoidance.
  • Host species' discrimination of cuckoos is probably an evolved response to brood parasitism.