@article {KNZ001760,
	title = {Mismatched begging displays between foreign and host offspring reduce brood parasite fitness},
	journal = {Behavioral Ecology},
	volume = {25},
	year = {2014},
	pages = {785 - 793},
	abstract = {<p>Obligate brood parasites must obtain food from unrelated host parents during the developmental period, and this may be especially difficult when parasitic nestlings are raised alone. Unlike specialist brood parasites, generalist brood parasites use a single begging display for a range of host species. In this study, we 1) tested whether the begging display of the generalist brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) was more exaggerated than the closely related, nonparasitic red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) and 2) examined how begging displays were linked to food provisioning when both foreign species were raised by the Bell\&rsquo;s vireo (Vireo bellii), a small cowbird host. We also quantified parental provisioning to unparasitized broods containing 1\&ndash;4 vireo nestlings to provide a reference provisioning curve to provide context for assessing the feeding rate to foreign offspring. We found blackbirds begged as intensely as (or more intensely than) cowbird nestlings, vireo parents provisioned both species similarly, and the amount of food provisioned to unparasitized broods increased with brood size and maintained per-capita vireo growth. However, feeding of a single foreign nestling was significantly less than that of a modal brood of 4 vireos, indicating parents fed foreign nestlings at submaximal rates. Vireos did not respond to begging of foreign nestlings in the same manner as their own offspring, and this led to significant fitness costs for foreign nestlings. We conclude that a single foreign nestling provided an inadequate stimulus for vireos, probably because of a mismatch between the begging displays of foreign and host offspring.</p>},
	keywords = {LTER-KNZ, Agelaius phoeniceus, begging, Bell{\textquoteright}s vireo, brood parasitism, brown-headed cowbird, Molothrus ater, provisioning behavior, red-winged blackbird, Vireo bellii},
	doi = {10.1093/beheco/aru055},
	url = {https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/25/4/785/2900528},
	author = {Rivers, J. W. and M.A. Blundell and Rothstein, S. I.}
}
@article {KNZ001591,
	title = {The exaggerated begging behaviour of an obligate avian brood parasite is shared with a nonparasitic close relative},
	journal = {Animal Behaviour},
	volume = {86},
	year = {2013},
	pages = {529 -536},
	abstract = {Offspring signalling models predict that the begging displays of obligate brood parasites are more intense than nonparasitic species because parasitic young are never reared by their genetic parents and often compete against unrelated host young during development. The brown-headed cowbird, Molothrus ater, has been described as having exaggerated begging relative to nonparasitic species, but an effective test of this idea is lacking because previous studies have not controlled for evolutionary history while simultaneously standardizing rearing conditions. We quantified the begging intensity of cowbirds and the closely related, nonparasitic red-winged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, when both species experienced identical rearing conditions in two distinct nest environments: reared alone by a small cowbird host, or reared with two host young by a moderate-sized cowbird host. Against theoretical predictions, we found that in both nest environments four components of the cowbird begging display were similar to (or less intense than) blackbird begging displays (i.e. latency to beg, begging score, call rate and call amplitude) when nestlings were tested across a gradient of short-term need. Our results provide the first experimental evidence that a closely related, yet nonparasitic, species shares an exaggerated begging display with a brood-parasitic species when reared under conditions typically experienced by parasitic offspring. We discuss three nonexclusive explanations for our findings: (1) relatedness among cowbird nestmates reduced cowbird begging intensity (kin selection hypothesis), (2) reduced body condition of blackbirds elevated their begging intensity (body condition hypothesis) and (3) intense competition in blackbird nest environments led to increased blackbird begging intensity (competitive environment hypothesis).},
	keywords = {LTER-KNZ, Agelaius phoeniceus, begging, brood parasitism, brown-headed cowbird, Molothrus ater, offspring signalling, red-winged blackbird},
	doi = {10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.06.004},
	url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.06.004},
	author = {Rivers, J.W. and M.A. Blundell and Loughin, T.M. and Peer, B.D. and Rothstein, S.I.}
}
@article {KNZ001200,
	title = {Bobolinks (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) nesting at Konza Prairie Biological Station, Riley County, Kansas},
	journal = {Bulletin of the Kansas Ornithological Society},
	volume = {59},
	year = {2008},
	pages = {21 -23},
	keywords = {LTER-KNZ},
	author = {M.A. Blundell and Von Korff, B.}
}
