Parental Investment of Female Tengmalm's OwlsAegolius funereus: Correlation with Varying Food Abundance and Reproductive Success

Effect of male provisioning on the parental behavior of female Boreal Owls Aegolius funereus

“…Moreover, these females usually returned to the nest without prey, suggesting they made no effort to hunt for their offspring. Such results on female parental behavior are consistent with those from successful nests in Central Europe (Zárybnická 2009a). After completing brooding, some females provisioned young with their mates until fledging, but others did not.…”

“…While the female incubates eggs and broods young for 3 to 4 weeks after hatching (i.e., the brooding period, Korpimäki 1981;Zárybnická 2009a), the male provides nearly all of the food for the female and young (Korpimäki 1981;Eldegard and Sonerud 2009;Zárybnická 2009a). During this time, the female typically leaves the nest for a few minutes each night in order to defecate, regurgitate the remains of food, or for preening, and usually returns to the nest without prey (Korpimäki 1981;Zárybnická 2009a). The male, however, almost always arrives at the nest with prey (Korpimäki 1981;Zárybnická 2009a, b;Zárybnická et al 2009).…”

“…The male, however, almost always arrives at the nest with prey (Korpimäki 1981;Zárybnická 2009a, b;Zárybnická et al 2009). After the brooding period, females may either help males in providing food for the young or desert them (Eldegard and Sonerud 2009;Zárybnická 2009a;Korpimäki et al 2011). When a female deserts, its mate compensates for the absent female's contribution and continues to care for the nestlings (Korpimäki 1981;Zárybnická 2009a;Eldegard and Sonerud 2012) and fledglings until they become independent (6 to 7 weeks after fledging, Eldegard and Sonerud 2012).…”

“…After the brooding period, females may either help males in providing food for the young or desert them (Eldegard and Sonerud 2009;Zárybnická 2009a;Korpimäki et al 2011). When a female deserts, its mate compensates for the absent female's contribution and continues to care for the nestlings (Korpimäki 1981;Zárybnická 2009a;Eldegard and Sonerud 2012) and fledglings until they become independent (6 to 7 weeks after fledging, Eldegard and Sonerud 2012). Males can be polygynous and simultaneously pair with two or even three females (Carlsson et al 1987;Carlsson and Hörnfeldt 1989;Korpimäki 1991).…”

“…Using a relatively recently developed methodological approach (e.g., Reif and Tornberg 2006;Nuka et al 2011) of continuous nest recording with a camera system, we obtained data on the feeding rate of males and time spent away from the nest and the provisioning rate by females. We tested the following hypotheses: (1) females whose mates provide sufficient food for their family brood more intensively than females exposed to insufficient male provisioning, (2) females whose mates fail in food provisioning stop brooding, and their nesting attempts fail, and (3) because the female is dependent on provisioning by the male at time of brooding (Korpimäki 1981;Eldegard and Sonerud 2009;Zárybnická 2009a), we expect that the body mass of females in nests with insufficient food provisioning by males are lower than that of the females in nests with a high male feeding rate.…”