Personality is linked to parasitic strategy in two avian brood parasites

MACARENA VAZQUEZ

Glenview, Illinois

Conferencia; ABS 2020 Virtual Meeting - Animal Behavior Society; 2020

Animal Behavior Society

Behavior can be shaped by the specialization in the use of resources. Shiny cowbirds (Molothrus bonariensis) and Screaming cowbirds (M. rufoaxillaris) are avian brood parasites that differ in their degree of specialization in the use of hosts, the former being a generalist and the latter a specialist. Since shiny cowbird females must face a wide range of contexts and conditions while parasitizing host nests, with some of them being very aggressive when defending their nest and others more passive, while screaming cowbirds? exclusive host shows a passive nest-defense strategy, we expect females of both species to differ in some aspects of their personality. Specifically, we expect the generalist species to be less neophobic, show less risk aversion and greater exploratory behavior than the specialist species. We captured shiny and screaming cowbird females in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, and measured their response to a novel object and their exploratory behavior. As expected, shiny cowbird females were less neophobic than screaming cowbird females, however, there was some evidence for the latter showing greater exploratory behavior. Further research measuring behavior in natural nests and the interaction between parasites and hosts during parasitic events will help understand the differences in personality traits between these species.