A new breeding tactic of the Common Moorhen: interspecific brood parasitism of bittern nests

The efficiency and costs of Common MoorhenGallinula chloropusparasitism on the Little BitternIxobrychus minutus: an experimental study

“…1). This corresponds to the frequency of the Common Moorhen parasitism reported in the literature for this and a closely related species the Yellow Bittern (1.5-4.2%, Ueda & Narui 2004, PardoCervera et al 2010). This figure was likely not an underestimate because of host rejection behaviour because the Little Bitterns were found to not discriminate against Common Moorhen eggs, that is, parasitic eggs were unlikely to be ejected by the Little Bittern parents before parasitism was detected (Brooke et al 1998).…”

“…The reason may lie in the survival of hatched Common Moorhen chicks that, although precocial, require supplemental feeding and other care from their parents (Huxley & Wood 1976) that Little Bitterns are not able to provide to them because of substantial differences in their biology. Based on observations of successfully parasitized nests of the closely related Yellow Bitterns, Common Moorhen chicks may receive post-hatching parental care from Common Moorhen parents nesting nearby parasitized bittern nests (Ueda & Narui 2004). In my study, I transferred five (2-3 days old) Common Moorhen chicks caught immediately upon jumping out of Little Bittern nest to three Common Moorhen nests containing newly hatched young.…”

“…Gibbons 1986, Ueda et al 1993, McRae 1995, 1997, 2011, Post & Seals 2000 that has recently been found to rarely lay eggs also in the nests of other bird species (for review see Meniaia et al 2014), including two closely related birds of the family Ardeidae, the Little Bittern Ixobrychus minutus and Yellow Bittern Ixobrychus sinensis (Ueda & Narui 2004, David et al 2005, Pardo-Cervera et al 2010, Samraoui et al 2012. Although cases in which moorhens parasitize nests of bitterns are relatively scarce (note that due to their secretive and shy habits, bitterns remain one of the least studied marsh-dwelling birds, Pardo-Cervera et al 2010), previous studies have suggested that frequency of such parasitism might be higher than reported in the literature, and this behaviour could represent an alternative breeding tactic of Common Moorhens to enhance their reproductive output (Ueda & Narui 2004, David et al 2005. However, more detailed experimental study is needed to clarify the adaptive value of this phenomenon.…”

“…Third, to assess the cost of parasitism to the host. Given that Common Moorhens do not remove host eggs during parasitism and their chicks leave the nest soon after hatching (within 1-2 days), the main cost to Little Bittern hosts should involve the cost of incubation of the parasitic egg(s) (see also Ueda & Narui 2004). Therefore, I evaluated hatching success of Little Bittern eggs in experimentally parasitized nests and compared it with hatching success of nonparasitized nests.…”

Behaviour of the Common Moorhen in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

“…Previous studies on the behaviour of the Common Moorhen stop short of describing and explaining some of the behavioural aspects such as the success of nestbuilding, incubation, and dispersal (Byrd and Zeillemaker 1981;Eden 1987;Forman and Brain 2004;Petrie 1983), vigilance against predators (Alvarez 1993;Alvarez et al 2006), parasitism (Gibbons 1986;MacRae 1996a), social interactions (Alvarez et al 2005a, b;Eens et al 2000;Leonard et al 1988;Petrie 1983Petrie , 1984Petrie , 1988Randler 2007;Ueda and Narui 2004), and reproduction (Bannor 1997;Fenoglio et al 2002;Forman 2005;Forman and Brain 2004;Gibbons 1986;Gibbons 1987a, b;Jamieson et al 2000;MacRae 1995MacRae , 1996aMacRae , b, 1997MacRae , 1998MacRae and Burke 1996;Post and Seals 2000;Siegfried and Frost 1975). Thus, the aims of this study were to describe the behavioural repertories and analyse the distribution of behavioural aspects throughout the day in populations of the Common Moorhen G. chloropus in southern Brazil, and to compare these with the behaviours previously described for other populations.…”