Extra‐pair paternity, intraspecific brood parasitism, quasi‐parasitism and polygamy in the Red‐footed Falcon (Falco vespertinus)

Abstract

Based on the genotyping of 97 chicks and 74 adults from 37 families we describe extra‐pair paternity (EPP), intraspecific brood parasitism (IBP), quasi‐parasitism (QP) and polygamy in the Red‐footed Falcon Falco vespertinus. The frequency of chicks resulting from EPP was 2.06% affecting 2.70% of families (two chicks, one nest), the values for IBP were 1.03% and 2.70% for offspring and families, and the same values were detected for QP (each one chick in one nest). Altogether, 4.12% of offspring and 8.11% of families were affected by some of the alternative reproductive strategies. As far as we know, this is the first described case of QP in the genus Falco.