BREEDING BIOLOGY OF BROOD PARASITIC BROWN-HEADEDCOWBIRDS (MOLOTHRUS ATER) CHARACTERIZED BY PARENT-OFFSPRING AND SIBLING-GROUP RECONSTRUCTION

Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) Science Article 11

abstract

We characterized several equivocal aspects of the breeding biology of the broodparasitic Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) at a study site in northeastern Illinois. Atotal of 175 offspring and a partial sample of parents were sampled and genotyped at sixmicrosatellite loci. A combination of sibling-group and parentage assignment enabled us tocharacterize mating behavior and area used for reproduction by breeding adults, even forthose not sampled.

BILL M. STRAUSBERGER AND MARY V. ASHLEY, The Auk 120(2):433-445, 2003

Download article


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *