Costs and consequences of male attendance behaviour at common eider colonies

• Main Author: McKay, Kerrith Marnie
• Other Authors: Nudds, T.D.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Guelph 2004
• Subjects: Common Eider colonies; Males; Attendance; Behaviour; Nesting; Common Eider; Somateria mollissima
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10214/20951

Typically male ducks follow females to breeding grounds, where males mate guard through nest searching and egg-laying, but do not follow females to nests. However, male Common Eiders ('Somateria mollissima') attend females at nests during early stages of nesting. The questions that arise are; (1) why does this occur, and (2) what does the male gain by being on the colony? I tested whether male Common Eiders balance predation risk against possible reproductive benefits of attending females. I found that, among 83 eider colonies, males do not attend females under conditions when they or the nest are at greater risk of predation. At a colony where males do attend females, they neither participated in nest site choice, nor did the duration of their attendance affect the number of eggs that hatched. Whether males attend to protect paternity remains to be determined.