Cases of occasional interspecific brood parasitism and egg dumping in Hungary
Abstract There are numerous publications in the ornithological literature on mixed-species broods, i.e. on cases when a species lays some or all of its eggs into the nests of other species. This phenomenon, known as brood parasitism, has not yet been studied in Hungary. Here, I use the term brood pa...
| Published in: | Ornis Hungarica |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/orhu-2019-0020 https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/orhu/27/2/article-p115.xml https://www.sciendo.com/pdf/10.2478/orhu-2019-0020 |
| Summary: | Abstract There are numerous publications in the ornithological literature on mixed-species broods, i.e. on cases when a species lays some or all of its eggs into the nests of other species. This phenomenon, known as brood parasitism, has not yet been studied in Hungary. Here, I use the term brood parasitism, but I could not separate cases of egg dumping, a reproductive error by females. Based on literature and my own observations, I found evidence for interspecific brood parasitism in 28 species breeding in Hungary, not including the cases of the obligate interspecific brood parasite, the Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) . Only one of these belongs to passerines, while in the rest of the cases, this phenomenon occurred in representatives of non-passerine families. However, cases of brood parasitism and nest parasitism have to be treated separately. The latter refers to cases when a species occupies a nest, usually a nesthole or nestbox, already containing eggs of another species, and lays its own eggs next to the foreign eggs. The present study provides data on European Roller (Coracias garrulus) , Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) , Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) , Red-footed Falcon (Falco vespertinus) , Eurasian Hobby (Falco subbuteo) , tit species ( Parus, Cyanistes, Poecile spp.), Eurasian Nuthatch (Sitta europaea) and Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) , but in all likelihood the number of species involved is much higher. |
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