A Duck That Behaves Like a Cuckoo: Obligate Brood Parasitism in the Black-headed Duck of Argentina - Livestream

The Black-headed Duck is a duck with the lifestyle of a cuckoo or a cowbird - they never raise their own offspring but depend entirely on other species to do so. This species is unique among the hundred species of professional brood parasitic birds in that their precocial chicks fend for themselves after hatching, so the parasites rely on their hosts only for incubation. This suggested that we might see a different type of relationship between the brood parasite and the host species they parasitize. UC Santa Cruz professor Dr. Bruce Lyon will discuss the results of a four-year study of Black-headed Ducks in wetlands near Buenos Aires. His team investigated ecological and evolutionary aspects of their biology, including patterns of host use, the factors that influence the ducks reproductive success, and the implications for conservation of the ducks. The study wetlands, habitat that looks similar to North American wetlands, host an incredible diversity of breeding birds (60 species!). Bruce will highlight some of this avian diversity with a feast of images and natural history vignettes, considering both the similarities and the differences between these Argentina wetlands and their North American counterparts.

Speaker: Bruce Lyon, UC Santa Cruz

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