Open AccessYellow wing‐patch of a nestling Horsfield's hawk cuckoo Cuculus fugax induces miscognition by hosts: mimicking a gape?
Author(s) -
Tanaka Keita D.,
Morimoto Gen,
Ueda Keisuke
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of avian biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.022
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1600-048X
pISSN - 0908-8857
DOI - 10.1111/j.2005.0908-8857.03439.x
Subject(s) - biology , wing , host (biology) , brood , zoology , skin patch , ecology , aerospace engineering , medicine , dermatology , engineering
A chick of the Horsfield's hawk cuckoo Cuculus fugax has a vivid yellow skin patch on each wing‐bend, which is very similar in colour to its own gape. Almost every time a host parent delivers food, the chick explicitly displays the wing‐patch by raising and shaking the wing. We observed that host parents tried to place food onto the wing‐patch of the nestling instead of into its mouth. The wing‐patch would be perceived as a gape by host parents, possibly resulting in an overestimation of brood size. Signals induced by the wing‐patch may vary with the luminosity of environments.