Study
explores the possible benefits of rare behavior
Date: May 2, 2019
Source: Cornell University
Acorn
Woodpeckers live in close-knit family groups and have one of the most complex
breeding systems of any bird in the world. In about 20 percent of family
groups, up to 3 related females may lay eggs in the same nest. They raise the
chicks cooperatively with one or more related males. This behavior is known as
joint nesting or "cooperative polyandry." Only five other species of
birds worldwide are known to do this. The reasons that may be driving the
behavior are outlined in a study recently published in The American
Naturalist.
Lead
authors Sahas Barve at Old Dominion University (Cornell Ph.D. '17), and Cornell
Lab of Ornithology scientist Walt Koenig, used demographic data collected
during 35 years (1982-2016) at the Hastings Natural History Reservation in
central coastal California. They analyzed the costs and benefits of joint
nesting, hoping to explain why some woodpecker females exhibit this rare
behavior.
They
found that joint nesting was more common in years when Acorn Woodpecker
population density was high, all the breeding territories were occupied, and
opportunities for a female to nest on her own were very unlikely.
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