Conspecific nest attendance behaviour of Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) in response to Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) foraging activity: error or intent?
Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) is a colonial nesting sea duck with extremely high nest attendance rates. Although individuals take few recess breaks away from their nest to feed or preen, previous research has shown that some female eiders in dense nesting assemblages engage in conspecific nest...
Published in: | The Canadian Field-Naturalist |
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Online Access: | https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/glierpub/649 https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v136i3.2807 |
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ftunivwindsor:oai:scholar.uwindsor.ca:glierpub-1651 2023-12-17T10:28:54+01:00 Conspecific nest attendance behaviour of Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) in response to Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) foraging activity: error or intent? Simone, Cassandra A.B. Geldart, Erica A. Semeniuk, Christina A.D. Love, Oliver P. Gilchrist, H. Grant Barnas, Andrew F. 2022-07-01T07:00:00Z https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/glierpub/649 https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v136i3.2807 unknown Scholarship at UWindsor https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/glierpub/649 doi:10.22621/cfn.v136i3.2807 https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v136i3.2807 Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research Publications Common Eider Conspecific nest attendance distraction displays drones incubation behaviour Polar Bear Somateria mollissima Ursus maritimus text 2022 ftunivwindsor https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v136i3.2807 2023-11-18T23:13:19Z Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) is a colonial nesting sea duck with extremely high nest attendance rates. Although individuals take few recess breaks away from their nest to feed or preen, previous research has shown that some female eiders in dense nesting assemblages engage in conspecific nest attendance, spending short amounts of time incubating nests of other females. However, to the best of our knowledge, most observations of these behaviours occur during regular recess events, as opposed to instances where females flush from their nest in response to a foraging predator. Using drone videography on East Bay Island, northern Hudson Bay, Nunavut, Canada, we observed conspecific nest attendance behaviours in 11 eiders that flushed in response to a foraging Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus). Of the 11 birds attending to other nests, only two predation events were observed at the focal bird's nest (i.e., two attenders' own nests were predated). Of the nine nests that were attended to, we also only observed two predation events. Motivations behind these behaviours are unclear, but conspecific nest attendance may serve as a type of distraction display, whereby activity at another female's nest leads the predator away from the focal bird's nest. However, given that, on East Bay Island, eiders are known to nest in proximity to kin, distraction displays at nests of related individuals would incur fitness costs. General confusion on nest location or the concealment of closely related eggs are more likely explanations for these behaviours. Text Common Eider Hudson Bay Nunavut Somateria mollissima Ursus maritimus University of Windsor, Ontario: Scholarship at UWindsor Canada East Bay ENVELOPE(-36.426,-36.426,-54.288,-54.288) Hudson Hudson Bay Nunavut Recess ENVELOPE(-61.516,-61.516,-64.500,-64.500) The Canadian Field-Naturalist 136 3 247 253 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Windsor, Ontario: Scholarship at UWindsor |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwindsor |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Common Eider Conspecific nest attendance distraction displays drones incubation behaviour Polar Bear Somateria mollissima Ursus maritimus |
spellingShingle |
Common Eider Conspecific nest attendance distraction displays drones incubation behaviour Polar Bear Somateria mollissima Ursus maritimus Simone, Cassandra A.B. Geldart, Erica A. Semeniuk, Christina A.D. Love, Oliver P. Gilchrist, H. Grant Barnas, Andrew F. Conspecific nest attendance behaviour of Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) in response to Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) foraging activity: error or intent? |
topic_facet |
Common Eider Conspecific nest attendance distraction displays drones incubation behaviour Polar Bear Somateria mollissima Ursus maritimus |
description |
Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) is a colonial nesting sea duck with extremely high nest attendance rates. Although individuals take few recess breaks away from their nest to feed or preen, previous research has shown that some female eiders in dense nesting assemblages engage in conspecific nest attendance, spending short amounts of time incubating nests of other females. However, to the best of our knowledge, most observations of these behaviours occur during regular recess events, as opposed to instances where females flush from their nest in response to a foraging predator. Using drone videography on East Bay Island, northern Hudson Bay, Nunavut, Canada, we observed conspecific nest attendance behaviours in 11 eiders that flushed in response to a foraging Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus). Of the 11 birds attending to other nests, only two predation events were observed at the focal bird's nest (i.e., two attenders' own nests were predated). Of the nine nests that were attended to, we also only observed two predation events. Motivations behind these behaviours are unclear, but conspecific nest attendance may serve as a type of distraction display, whereby activity at another female's nest leads the predator away from the focal bird's nest. However, given that, on East Bay Island, eiders are known to nest in proximity to kin, distraction displays at nests of related individuals would incur fitness costs. General confusion on nest location or the concealment of closely related eggs are more likely explanations for these behaviours. |
format |
Text |
author |
Simone, Cassandra A.B. Geldart, Erica A. Semeniuk, Christina A.D. Love, Oliver P. Gilchrist, H. Grant Barnas, Andrew F. |
author_facet |
Simone, Cassandra A.B. Geldart, Erica A. Semeniuk, Christina A.D. Love, Oliver P. Gilchrist, H. Grant Barnas, Andrew F. |
author_sort |
Simone, Cassandra A.B. |
title |
Conspecific nest attendance behaviour of Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) in response to Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) foraging activity: error or intent? |
title_short |
Conspecific nest attendance behaviour of Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) in response to Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) foraging activity: error or intent? |
title_full |
Conspecific nest attendance behaviour of Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) in response to Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) foraging activity: error or intent? |
title_fullStr |
Conspecific nest attendance behaviour of Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) in response to Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) foraging activity: error or intent? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Conspecific nest attendance behaviour of Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) in response to Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) foraging activity: error or intent? |
title_sort |
conspecific nest attendance behaviour of common eider (somateria mollissima) in response to polar bear (ursus maritimus) foraging activity: error or intent? |
publisher |
Scholarship at UWindsor |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/glierpub/649 https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v136i3.2807 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-36.426,-36.426,-54.288,-54.288) ENVELOPE(-61.516,-61.516,-64.500,-64.500) |
geographic |
Canada East Bay Hudson Hudson Bay Nunavut Recess |
geographic_facet |
Canada East Bay Hudson Hudson Bay Nunavut Recess |
genre |
Common Eider Hudson Bay Nunavut Somateria mollissima Ursus maritimus |
genre_facet |
Common Eider Hudson Bay Nunavut Somateria mollissima Ursus maritimus |
op_source |
Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research Publications |
op_relation |
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/glierpub/649 doi:10.22621/cfn.v136i3.2807 https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v136i3.2807 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v136i3.2807 |
container_title |
The Canadian Field-Naturalist |
container_volume |
136 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
247 |
op_container_end_page |
253 |
_version_ |
1785581131166384128 |