Begging behaviour and host exploitation in parasitic cowbirds

DEARBORN, D,G. LICHTENSTEIN

The evolution of begging, competition cooperation and communication

Kluwer Academic Publishers

Lugar: Dordrecht; Año: 2002; p. 361 - 388

In this chapter we explore the begging behaviour of cowbirds, obligate brood parasites that are typically raised in mixed broods with host young. As strangers in the nest, cowbird nestlings present both the challenges and opoortunities to evolutionary biologists. The most striking conclusions from our synthesis are that cowbird nestlings do not always succesfully manipulate host adults and that begging by cowbirds can be informative of their level of need.