Flushing behaviour as related to the concept of parental investment in incubating blue-winged teal (Anas discors) and lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) ducks / Richard D. Robinson.
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TextPublication details: 1985.Description: 27 p. : ill. ; 28 cmOnline resources: Abstract: The flushing behaviour of incubating blue-winged teal (Anas discors) and lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) was examined in relation to Tribers'(1972) concept of parental investment and Andersson et al's (1980) model of optimal parental defence. As predicted for blue-winged teal,reluctance to flush when threatened increased with age of the egg-nest unit. However, this pattern did not apply to lesser scaup. Both species showed increased effort in antipredatory distraction display with an increase in nest age. Blue-winged teal showed an increase in the tendency to defecate on the nest as a function of nest age, however, in lesser scaup, no such increase was indicated. Flushing angle was correlated to observer to nest angle in both species, as predicted. The presence of other nests on the same island had no effect on either species' reluctance to flush. Differences in the two species' behaviour may be related to different life strategies.
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Includes bibliographical references (p. 26-27).
The flushing behaviour of incubating blue-winged teal (Anas discors) and lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) was examined in relation to Tribers'(1972) concept of parental investment and Andersson et al's (1980) model of optimal parental defence. As predicted for blue-winged teal,reluctance to flush when threatened increased with age of the egg-nest unit. However, this pattern did not apply to lesser scaup. Both species showed increased effort in antipredatory distraction display with an increase in nest age. Blue-winged teal showed an increase in the tendency to defecate on the nest as a function of nest age, however, in lesser scaup, no such increase was indicated. Flushing angle was correlated to observer to nest angle in both species, as predicted. The presence of other nests on the same island had no effect on either species' reluctance to flush. Differences in the two species' behaviour may be related to different life strategies.