Experience-based nest-box and mate choice in the white-rumped swallow Tachycineta leucorrhoa

MASSONI, VIVIANA; MIÑO CAROLINA ISABEL ; FLORENCIA BULIT

Manaus

Congreso; Neotropical Ornithological Congress; 2015

Neotropical Ornithological Society y Congreso Brasileiro de Ornitología

Nest site and mates choice can profoundly influence and organism´s fitness and organisms of some northern hemisphere species use both self- and social information to select nests and mates. To expand the knowledge on southern hemisphere birds we explored the variables associated to nest-box and mate choice in the White-rumped Swallow Tachicyneta leucorrhoa using a nine years? dataset on returning breeders at a colony located in Chascomús (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Breeders presented moderate return rates (38.1%) and low local recruitment rates (4.1%). Generalized linear mixed models revealed that, out of eight variables examined, previous breeding performance and mate mate-choice, although differently for sexes. Female?s reuse previous breeding experience, while this variable did not affect male?s choice. Nest-box retention alone was a good predictor of mate choice variation in males, while females would choose a mate already settled in a box, regardless of their individual increase in breeding performance. We suggest that box retention by females would be related to maintaining social partners with good abilities as caregivers, indirectly assessed through their box claiming competence.