The reuse of Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) nests by the Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio) in an intensive agricultural landscape: a coincidence or a new solution?

Abstract

Nest site availability plays an important role in the ecology of the birds inhabiting intensive agricultural landscapes. The removal of trees and snags due to logging is one of the main threats and the cause of the observed decline in many birds living in an agricultural landscape. When nests are lost, nesting passerines typically rebuild them for a new clutch. Additionally, relocating nests after a brood loss is a prevalent strategy used to avoid predators and brood parasites. Such a strategy is common to the Red-backed Shrike, which builds successive nests for each brood. Interestingly, clutch replacement may occur in unusual forms. This study describe three cases of Song Thrush nests reused by Red-backed Shrikes during one breeding season. The time and energy-saving behaviour or possible deterrence of nest parasitism could explain why the nests have been reused. However, due to the limited observations as compared to the total number of nests, further research is necessary to clarify this phenomenon.

Keywords:

• Nest reuse
• Song Thrush
• Turdus philomelos
• Red-backed Shrike
• Lanius collurio
• energy-saving behaviour

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank owners of agricultural fields and midfield avenues for allowing us to undertake research on their properties. We are also grateful to M. Markiewicz and M. Janowskiemu for their help in fields work and the two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions.

Compliance with ethical standards

All applicable international, national and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval consent to participate

All the fieldwork was done according to the ethical standards recommended by those institutions.

Geolocation information

Wielkopolska, Poznań, Poland, Central Europe

Data availability statement

The data analyses in this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The data collection was financially and logistically supported by Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Institute of Biology, University of Szczecin, Poland and Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University. Z. K. was partially supported financially by a Miniatura 2 [grant – 2018/02/X/NZ8/01806] from the National Science Centre, Poland.