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Dryad

First discovery on interspecific parental care of Siberian stonechat (Saxicola maurus) nestlings provided by a male White wagtail (Motacilla alba)

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Apr 04, 2025 version files 303.68 MB

Abstract

Interspecific parental behavior has been reported across worldwide, especially in Europe and North America, yet relatively little information is available from East Asia. We present the first known interspecific parental care by a white wagtail (Motacilla alba) at a nest of Siberian stonechat (Saxicola maurus), documented by video in the farmland of northwest Yunnan, China. We quantify parental behavior and describe aggressive events between the adult Siberian stonechats and the White wagtail. Despite incurring no obvious fitness benefit, the White wagtail did significantly more feeding attempts than either parent of the Siberian stonechats, but did not show significant difference in sanitation maneuvers compared to each sex of the stonechat parent. Moreover, the three birds’ investment, in terms of food delivery and fecal-sac removal, distributed evenly among the five nestlings at the nest. Although proximate causes of this behavior are unclear, close nest vicinity with host young’s loud begging and the loss of wagtail’s offspring or eggs may have triggered this behavior.