Mate choice in Pied Flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca: can females use song to find high‐quality males and territories?

Abstract

High‐quality male Pied Flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca (defined by brighter plumage, better condition and more experience) have previously been shown to have larger syllable repertoires and greater song versatility than males of inferior quality. Thus, by preferring more complex songs, females could choose a high‐quality male. Females may also use song as a cue to find a high‐quality territory since early arriving males may obtain the best territories and these males have more complex songs than late‐arriving males. We found that males with more complex songs had a greater chance of becoming paired and stayed unpaired for a shorter period than males with less elaborate songs. When controlling for arrival order, however, only strophe versatility was still correlated with pairing order. Males defending popular territories had more complex and longer songs and were also in better body condition than males in less popular territories. A multiple logistic regression showed that song length was important in explaining whether a male defended a popular nestbox or not. Thus, male arrival time seems to be important in deciding the quality of a male's territory, which in turn explains female choice. However, song quality seems to add important information. Thus, females could find both high‐quality males and high‐quality territories by using song cues during mate choice.