A photographic guide for ageing nestlings of two Australian brood-parasitic cuckoo species: Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo Chalcites basalis and the Fan-tailed Cuckoo Cacomantis flabelliformis

William Feeney, Thomas Ryan, James Kennerley, Colleen Poje, Lacey Clarke, Miles Scheuering, Michael Webster
pp. 8-12


Abstract

Accurate ageing of nestling birds is important for a variety of ecological, evolutionary and ornithological research. However, this can be difficult when nests are found after the eggs have hatched, especially for less-common species such as brood-parasitic cuckoos. Here we present a photographic guide for ageing nestlings of two species of Australian cuckoo: Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo Chalcites basalis and the Fan-tailed Cuckoo Cacomantis flabelliformis. Evidence of chick rejection by several hosts of bronze-cuckoos Chalcites spp. and counter-adaptations in cuckoo nestlings has prompted increased research attention in this subject. This guide will help facilitate these efforts as well as research into the ecologies of other unstudied cuckoos.


References


Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. (1989). Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Australian Zoological Reviews 2, 1– 67.

Colombelli-Négrel, D., Hauber, M.E., Robertson, J., Sulloway, F.J., Hoi, H., Griggio, M. & Kleindorfer, S. (2012). Embryonic learning of vocal passwords in Superb Fairy-wrens reveals intruder cuckoo nestlings. Current Biology 22, 2155–2160.

De Geest, P. & Leitão, A.V. (2017). First record of Brush Cuckoo parasitism of the Lovely Fairy-wren. Australian Field Ornithology 34, 123–126.

Feeney, W.E. & Langmore, N.E. (2013). Social learning of a brood parasite by its host. Biology Letters 9, 20130443.

Feeney, W.E. & Langmore, N.E. (2015). Superb Fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus) increase vigilance near their nest with the perceived risk of brood parasitism. Auk 132, 359–364.

Feeney, W.E., Medina, I., Somveille, M., Heinsohn, R., Hall, M.L., Mulder, R.A., Stein, J.A., Kilner, R.M. & Langmore, N.E. (2013). Brood parasitism and the evolution of cooperative breeding in birds. Science 342, 1506–1508.

Feeney, W.E., Stoddard, M.C., Kilner, R.M. & Langmore, N.E. (2014b). “Jack-of-all-trades” egg mimicry in the brood parasitic Horsfield’s bronze-cuckoo? Behavioral Ecology 25, 1365–1373.

Feeney, W.E., Welbergen, J.A. & Langmore, N.E. (2014a). Advances in the study of coevolution between avian brood parasites and their hosts. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 45, 227–246.

Gill, B.J. (1982). Notes on the Shining Bronze-Cuckoo Chrysococcyx lucidus in New Zealand. Notornis 29, 215–227.

Grim, T. (2007). Experimental evidence for chick discrimination without recognition in a brood parasite host. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 274, 373–381.

Guppy, M., Guppy, S. & Fullagar, P. (2017). Parasitism strategies of the Fan-tailed Cuckoo Cacomantis flabelliformis. Australian Field Ornithology 34, 59–66.

Haff, T.M. & Magrath, R.D. (2010). Vulnerable but not helpless: Nestlings are fine-tuned to cues of approaching danger. Animal Behaviour 79, 487–496.

Haff, T.M. & Magrath, R.D. (2011). Calling at a cost: Elevated nestling calling attracts predators to active nests. Biology Letters 7, 493–495.

Ibáñez-Álamo, J.D., Magrath, R.D., Oteyza, J.C., Chalfoun, A.D., Haff, T.M., Schmidt, K.A., Thomson, R.L. & Martin, T.E. (2015). Nest predation research: Recent findings and future perspectives. Journal of Ornithology 156, 247–262.

Joseph, L., Wilke, T. & Alpers, D. (2002). Reconciling genetic expectations from host specificity with historical population dynamics in an avian brood parasite, Horsfield’s Bronze- Cuckoo Chalcites basalis of Australia. Molecular Ecology 11, 829–837.

Kilner, R.M., Madden, J.R. & Hauber, M.E. (2004). Brood parasitic Cowbird nestlings use host young to procure resources. Science 305, 877–879.

Langmore, N.E. & Kilner, R.M. (2010). The coevolutionary arms race between Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoos and Superb Fairywrens. Emu 110, 32–38.

Langmore, N.E., Cockburn, A., Russell, A.F. & Kilner, R.M. (2009). Flexible cuckoo chick-rejection rules in the superb fairy-wren. Behavioral Ecology 20, 978–984.

Langmore, N.E., Feeney, W.E., Crowe-Riddell, J., Luan, H., Louwrens, K.M. & Cockburn, A. (2012). Learned recognition of brood parasitic cuckoos in the superb fairy-wren Malurus cyaneus. Behavioral Ecology 23, 798–805.

Langmore, N.E., Hunt, S. & Kilner, R.M. (2003). Escalation of a coevolutionary arms race through host rejection of brood parasitic young. Nature 422, 157–160.

Langmore, N.E., Kilner, R.M., Butchart, S.H.M., Maurer, G., Davies, N.B., Cockburn, A., Macgregor, N.A., Peters, A., Magrath, M.J.L. & Dowling, D.K. (2005). The evolution of egg rejection by cuckoo hosts in Australia and Europe. Behavioral Ecology 16, 686–692.

Langmore, N.E., Maurer, G., Adcock, G.J. & Kilner, R.M. (2008). Socially acquired host-specific mimicry and the evolution of host races in Horsfield’s bronze-cuckoo Chalcites basalis. Evolution 62, 1689–1699.

Langmore, N.E., Stevens, M., Maurer, G., Heinsohn, R., Hall, M.L., Peters, A. & Kilner, R.M. (2011). Visual mimicry of host nestlings by cuckoos. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 278, 2455–2463.

Marchant, S. (1992). A Bird Observatory at Moruya, NSW 1975-84. Eurobodalla Natural History Society Occasional Publication No. 1. Eurobodalla Natural History Society, Moruya, NSW.

Payne, R. (2017). Fan-tailed Cuckoo (Cacomantis flabelliformis). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (Eds). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.

Sato, N.J., Tanaka, K.D., Okahisa, Y., Yamamichi, M., Kuehn, R., Gula, R., Ueda, K. & Theuerkauf, J. (2015). Nestling polymorphism in a cuckoo-host system. Current Biology 25, R1164–R1165.

Sato, N.J., Tokue, K., Noske, R.A., Mikami, O.K. & Ueda, K. (2010). Evicting cuckoo nestlings from the nest: A new antiparasitism behaviour. Biology Letters 6, 67–69.