Many studies have found that if hosts observe a brood parasite at their nest, they use it as a cue to reject parasitic eggs. However, most previous work has simulated brood parasitic events by exposing a stuffed parasite near a host’s nest. Responses to the presence of a real parasite have not yet been adequately studied under natural conditions. We therefore investigated whether great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) are more likely to reject a parasitic egg if they see a parasitizing common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) at their nest than if the parasite approaches host nest unnoticed. Using video recordings of 70 nests we showed that spotting a cuckoo at the nest did not increase rejection rate of parasitic eggs, even if hosts saw the cuckoo repeatedly. Hosts instead used the level of mimicry in background colour for cuckoo egg rejection. Since not every visit by the cuckoo leads to parasitism, seeing the brood parasite may not be a reliable enough cue for the host. Therefore, our results suggest that the sight of the brood parasite at the nest may not be as important as previously thought.

We video recorded natural common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) parasitism at great reed warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) nests and calculated mimicry of cuckoo eggs. Then we used generalised linear mixed models (GLMM) to investigate whether seeing the cuckoo female at the nest and cuckoo egg mimicry affect host rejection behaviour.

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