Abstract
Abstract We studied effects of parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) on three frequent hosts from a pinyon-juniper (Pinus-Juniperus) community in New Mexico. During 1993–1999 and 2001–2002, we measured frequencies of parasitism and examined how differences in size of host, life-history traits, and behavior, as well as aspects of behavior of brown-headed cowbirds (i.e., removal of eggs of host and multiple parasitism), influenced reproductive success of blue-gray gnatcatchers (Polioptila caerulea), plumbeous vireos (Vireo plumbeus), and western tanagers (Piranga ludoviciana). Brown-headed cowbirds parasitized 79% of 288 nests of blue-gray gnatcatchers, 84% of 170 nests of plumbeous vireos, and 76% of 129 nests of western tanagers. Parasitism reduced productivity of hosts through removal of eggs, reduced hatching success, reduced survival of nestlings, and desertion of nest. Relative to unparasitized nests, size of clutch of singly parasitized nests was reduced, on average, by 0.3 eggs for th...
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