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Two Cases of Cooperative Breeding in Eurasian Hobbies

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Two Cases of Cooperative Breeding in Eurasian Hobbies 342 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS VOL. 37, NO. 4 management and recovery.The Peregrine Fund, Boi- Peregrines in south Scotland. Pages 651-665 in TJ. se, ID U.S.A. Cade, J.H. Enderson, C.G. Thelander and C.M. White ENDEPSON,J.H. AND G.R. CRAIG.1988. Population turn- [EDS.], Peregrine Falcon populations:their manage- over in Colorado Peregrines. Pages 685-688 in T.J. ment and recovery. The Peregrine Fund, Boise, ID Cade,J.H. Enderson,C.G. Thelander, and C.M. White U.S.A. [EDS.], Peregrine Falcon populations:their manage- POtTCLIFFE,D.A. 1993. The Peregrine Falcon, 2nd Ed. T. ment and recovery.The Peregrine Fund, Boise, ID & A.D. Poyser,London, U.K. U.S.A. SHERROD,S.K. 1983. Behavior of fledgling Peregrines. HATCHWELL,BJ. ANDJ.KOMDEUR. 2000. Ecological con- The Peregrine Fund, Ithaca, NY U.S.A. straints, life history waits and the evolution of coop- SKUTCH,A.F. 1987. Helpers at birds' nests.Univ. of Iowa erativebreeding. Anim. Behav.59:1079-1086. Press,Iowa City, IA U.S.A. KIMBAkL,R.T., P.G. P•R, ^NDJ.C. BEDNaP,Z. 2003. The SPOFFORD,W.R. 1969. Extra female at a nestingsite. Pages occurrence and evolution of cooperative breeding 418-419 in J. Hickey, [ED.], PeregrineFalcon popu- among the diurnal raptors (Accipitridae and Falco- lations: their biology and decline. The Univ. of Wis- nidae). Auk 120:717-729. consin Press, Madison, WI U.S.A. KUMAGALM. 1989. "Etomo hanto ni ikiru Hayabusa ta- UETA, M., R. KUROSAWA,AND T. KUROSAWA.1995. The chi" (Peregrines on the Etomo Peninsula). Anima home ranges of Peregrine Falconsin the Etomo Pen- 196:59-64. insula, Hokkaido. Pages 83-89 in "Kisho yasei dous- MONNEP,ET, R-J. 1983. L'aide fi l'61evagechez le Faucon hokubutushu seisokujokyochosa hokokusho" (Re- palerin. Alauda 4:241-250. ports on the statusof rare wildlife: Steller'sSea Eagle, NEWTON,I. 1988. Commentary--population regulation Goshawk, and Peregrine Falcon). The Environment in Peregrines:an overview.Pages 761-770 in T.J. Agency,Tokyo, Japan. Cade,J.H. Enderson,C.G. Thelander, and C.M. White Y•4AD^, I. 2002. Statusof Peregrine FalconsFalco peregri- lEDS.], Peregrine Falcon populations:their manage- nus in the SetouchiDistrict, westernJapan. Goshawk ment and recovery. The Peregrine Fund, Boise, ID 3:4-8. U.S.A. NEWTON,I. ANDR. MVAV•NS.1988. Population ecologyof Received7 January2003; accepted17 August2003 j RaptorRes. 37(4):342-344 ¸ 2003 The Raptor ResearchFoundation, Inc. Two CASES OF COOPERATIVE BREEDING IN EU•SIXN HOBBIES IlqlGO ZUBEROGOITIA Lab. Zoologia,Dpto ZoologiaY DindmicaCelular Animal, UniversidadDel Pais Vasco,APDO 644, 48080 Bilbao,Spain JOSEANTONIO MARTfNEZ Juan de la Cierva43, E-03560El Campello,Alicante, Spain AINARA AZKONA, AGURTZANEIRAETA, INAK• CASTILLO, RAiL ALONSO, AND SONIA HIDALGO Sociedadpara elEstudio de lasAves Rapaces, C/Karl Marx 15, 4ø F, 48950Erandio, Bizkaia, Spain KEYWORDS: Eurasian Hobby;Falco subbuteo; cooperative breeding with two or more males). A recent review of behavior,polyandry; polygamy. literature showsthat group breeding has been docu- mented in 42 speciesof diurnal raptors (Kimball et al. Polygamyis a common mating systemin birds (Alcock 2003). Furthermore, these authors suggestthat cooper- 1993), and it can involveeither polygyny(a male breed- ative breeding is more common in terms of the number ing with two or more females) or polyandry (a female of speciesand in frequency than the availabledata indi- cate.In addition, they reported that 21 speciesof raptors showedpolyandrous behavior and four other speciesmay 1 E-mail address:[email protected] be polyandrous. DECEMBER 2003 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 343 Polyandry may occur by extra-pair copulations (EPCs) bubo)that was 20 m from the nest. On 31 August, two or be a result of _twoor more males breeding and main- chickswere flying, but alwaysstayed close to the nest dur- taining a bond with one female. The first caseis not com- ing a 5 hr period, while the female and the _twomales monly known in most speciesof raptors,in part, because perched near the chicks. The three adult hobbies never the reported frequencies of mixed paternity based on showedsigns of aggressionbetween themselves. DNA fingerprinting analysesare scanty(e.g., Korpim/iki In the territory at Derio in 2001, we observeda pa•r et al. 1996, Rohner 1997, Marks et al. 1999). The second of hobbies, but could not find the nest because of the caseinvolves cooperative breeding behaviorbetween _two dense tree canopy.In 2002, we spent 3 d searchingfor or more males and one female. Males may be related or the nest. On the first 2 d (27 and 28 July), we sawthree not and the number of malesthat copulatewith a female hobbies flying together, one adult female (larger) and varies between speciesand sometimesonly one male of _two males. We could not see the tail feathers of the males the group copulates (Kimball et al. 2003). clearly, so we could not determine their ages (Forsman Polygamy has been rarely documented in Eurasian 1997). On the secondday, the falconsflew togetherfor Hobbies (Falcosubbuteo). Chapman (1999) found that a a period of 5 hr. On the third day (1 August), under a straythird bird, which could havebeen a yearling,would persistentrain, we saw only one hobby and found the consort occasionally with an established pair. Bijlsma nest in a eucalyptustree in the middle of the plantation. (1980) found that out of 26 migratory arrivalsof hobbies On 3 August,we climbed to the nest and found it empty, in the Netherlands, seven involved single birds, 14 in- and did not see any hobbieswhile we were there. As we volved pairs, and five a "trio" of hobbies.It is unknown were leaving the plantation, we saw a Booted Eagle (Hz- whether these trios became cooperatively breeding eraaetuspennatus) flying above, and the three hobbies at- groups or not. Cramp and Simmons (1980) describeda tacked it. The falcons chased the eagle for more than 1 casein which two males accompanieda female when in- km, and then returned to the plantation. spectinga nest. Here, we describe _twodifferent casesof Based on our observations,we could not distingmsh cooperativebreeding by hobbiesin the North of Spain. whether thesetrios representedpolyandrous breeding or In 2000, we begun monitoring hobbies in Bizkaia, helping behavior.It is possiblethat the secondmales •n Northern Spain, and 41 pairs were found. In 2001, two the Bizkaia trios could have been yearlingsborn in the of these territories were occupied by pairs, but were oc- same territories, who returned and then helped to de- cupied by trios in 2002. One territory was located in a fend the territory. By helping, theseyearlings could gain large pine (Pinus radiata) plantation in Muskiz and the experience that would prove useful in their third calen- other wasin a large eucalyptus(Eucalyptus globulus) plan- dar year, when male hobbies usuallyreach sexual matu- tation in Derio. rity. Most second-yearhobbies behave as floaters (Chap- The pair at Muskiz bred in a pine situated in the mid- man 1999), and they are stronglyphilopatric, as shown dle of the plantation in 2001 and they produced _two by the fact that they return from their wintering areasto fledglings. In 2002, we found the nest located only 5 m within a mean of 10 km from their natal sites(Chapman awayfrom the previousyear's nest. On 4 August 2002, 1999), which could lead to helping behavior.The age of we witnessedthree hobbiesflying togetherfor 5 hr at the the second male at the pine plantation nest was consis- pine plantation territory. One hobby (the female) was tent with the interpretation that this bird was a helper. obviouslylarger than the other _two(the males); these The benefits of the helping behavior for the adult pa•r sizesdifferences were evident, mainly when the falcons were not clear (Donf. zar 1993). In the _twotrios moni- were flying together (Chapman 1999). The female and tored, reproductive successwas relativelylow (one of two one male were then aged as 3+ yr and the other male nestsfledged a total of _twoyoung), but this samplewas wasa second-yearbird (Forsman1997). They, together, extremely small. mobbed two Common Buzzards (Buteo buteo).Later, one of the males captured a passerineand passedit to the RESUMEN.--En el afio 2000 comenzamos un estudio so- female, who ate it while flying near the two males.After- bre el alcofftn europeo (Falcosubbuteo) en Bizkaia, Norte wards, the female and one of the males perched on the de Espafia. Localizamos 41 territorios. Un afio desputs top of the trees close to the nest. Thirty minutes later, se controlaron varias parejas, alas que se realiz6 un es- the other male approached and flew over the perched trecho seguimiento.En el afio 2002 continuamosel se- falcons.Then the _twomales left together,while the fe- guimiento y encontramos queen dos de los territorsos male went to the nest. controladosun afio antes,habia trios poli•tndricos,es de- On 10 August,we observedone hobby 1 km awayfrom cir, dos machosy una hembra compartiendo las labores the nest carrying a Common Swift (Apusapus). This fal- de defensa de territorio y reproduccitn. Realizando un con approached the nest after perching in a pine to seguimientom•ts exhaustivo,comprobamos que los dos pluck the bird. Two hours later, we sawone of the males machos de cada territorio participaban en la ceba y ex- trying to hunt another swift, then join the female and pulsabanferozmente a cualquier intruso que se acercase mob three different Common Buzzards.On 11 August, al nido. En una de las parejas pudimos comprobar que the three hobbies attacked an EurasianEagle-Owl (Bubo la hembra y uno de los machos eran individuos adultos, 344 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS VOL. 37, NO. 4 mientras que el otro era un ejemplar nacido el afio an- of the birds of Europe, the Middle East, and North terior, por lo que sospechamosque podria ser un pollo Africa, Vol.
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