Owls May Use Faeces and Prey Feathers to Signal Current Reproduction

6 pages, 10 (supplementary) figures.-- Supplementary figures: S1. Pictures showing details of eagle owl faecal markings. 2. To increase the conspicuousness of faecal signaling, owls need to mark the most prominent rock surfaces. 3. An example of the spatial distribution of faecal markings within an...

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Autores: Penteriani, Vincenzo, Delgado Sánchez, María del Mar
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2008
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/6816
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/6816
Access Level:acceso abierto
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dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Owls May Use Faeces and Prey Feathers to Signal Current Reproduction
title Owls May Use Faeces and Prey Feathers to Signal Current Reproduction
spellingShingle Owls May Use Faeces and Prey Feathers to Signal Current Reproduction
Penteriani, Vincenzo
title_short Owls May Use Faeces and Prey Feathers to Signal Current Reproduction
title_full Owls May Use Faeces and Prey Feathers to Signal Current Reproduction
title_fullStr Owls May Use Faeces and Prey Feathers to Signal Current Reproduction
title_full_unstemmed Owls May Use Faeces and Prey Feathers to Signal Current Reproduction
title_sort Owls May Use Faeces and Prey Feathers to Signal Current Reproduction
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Penteriani, Vincenzo
Delgado Sánchez, María del Mar
author Penteriani, Vincenzo
author_facet Penteriani, Vincenzo
Delgado Sánchez, María del Mar
author_role author
author2 Delgado Sánchez, María del Mar
author2_role author
description 6 pages, 10 (supplementary) figures.-- Supplementary figures: S1. Pictures showing details of eagle owl faecal markings. 2. To increase the conspicuousness of faecal signaling, owls need to mark the most prominent rock surfaces. 3. An example of the spatial distribution of faecal markings within an eagle owl's home range. 4. Temporal pattern of the appearance of defecation and plucking sites, which generally become visible during the pre-laying season, and remain visible up until the fledgling period. 5. Some examples of preferential use of darkest substrates for eagle owl faecal marking. 6. Both faecal marks and plucking sites are located in positions with increased conspicuousness, such as dominant places and the highest points of valley slopes. Some marks also appear at the entrance of the valley in which the nest is located. 7. Examples of faecal marks being refreshed after we experimentally obscured them with spray paint. Generally, the eagle owls returned to re-mark within one to two nights of the experimental covering. In several cases, faeces were scattered at exactly the same position that had been previously marked. 8. Pictures showing the significant contrast between the bright feathers and the dark surface of the plucking site. All the prey species on plucking sites were birds with highly visible feathers. 9. Some faecal marks were only visible from the nest, not the surroundings. In such a context, they could act to signal reproductive status between the male and female of the breeding pair. 10. In the absence of dominant posts, eagle owls use different locations to signal their breeding status, such as trunks, fences, poles and human structures. Faecal marks and plucking sites could also function as visual signals in other avian species, such as the Little Owl, Athene noctua.
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spelling Owls May Use Faeces and Prey Feathers to Signal Current ReproductionPenteriani, VincenzoDelgado Sánchez, María del Mar6 pages, 10 (supplementary) figures.-- Supplementary figures: S1. Pictures showing details of eagle owl faecal markings. 2. To increase the conspicuousness of faecal signaling, owls need to mark the most prominent rock surfaces. 3. An example of the spatial distribution of faecal markings within an eagle owl's home range. 4. Temporal pattern of the appearance of defecation and plucking sites, which generally become visible during the pre-laying season, and remain visible up until the fledgling period. 5. Some examples of preferential use of darkest substrates for eagle owl faecal marking. 6. Both faecal marks and plucking sites are located in positions with increased conspicuousness, such as dominant places and the highest points of valley slopes. Some marks also appear at the entrance of the valley in which the nest is located. 7. Examples of faecal marks being refreshed after we experimentally obscured them with spray paint. Generally, the eagle owls returned to re-mark within one to two nights of the experimental covering. In several cases, faeces were scattered at exactly the same position that had been previously marked. 8. Pictures showing the significant contrast between the bright feathers and the dark surface of the plucking site. All the prey species on plucking sites were birds with highly visible feathers. 9. Some faecal marks were only visible from the nest, not the surroundings. In such a context, they could act to signal reproductive status between the male and female of the breeding pair. 10. In the absence of dominant posts, eagle owls use different locations to signal their breeding status, such as trunks, fences, poles and human structures. Faecal marks and plucking sites could also function as visual signals in other avian species, such as the Little Owl, Athene noctua.[Background] Many animals communicate by marking focal elements of their home range with different kinds of materials. Visual signaling has been demonstrated to play a previously unrecognized role in the intraspecific communication of eagle owls (Bubo bubo), in both territorial and parent-offspring contexts. Visual signals may play a role in a variety of circumstances in this crepuscular and nocturnal species.[Methodology/Principal Findings] Here, we report that a large amount of extremely visible white faeces and prey feathers appear during the breeding season on posts and plucking sites in proximity to the nest, potentially representing a way for eagle owls to mark their territory. We present descriptive and experimental evidence showing that faeces and prey remains could act as previously unrecognized visual signals in a nocturnal avian predator. This novel signaling behavior could indicate the owls' current reproductive status to potential intruders, such as other territorial owls or non-breeding floaters. Faeces and prey feather markings may also advertise an owl's reproductive status or function in mate-mate communication.[Conclusions/Significance] We speculate that faeces marks and plucking may represent an overlooked but widespread method for communicating current reproduction to conspecifics. Such marking behavior may be common in birds, and we may now be exploring other questions and mechanisms in territoriality.Funding for this study was provided by research project No. CGL2004-02780/BOS of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and LICOR43 (Diego Zamora S.A.). During this work, M.M. Delgado was supported by a doctoral grant from the Junta de Andalucía (Consejería de Educación y Ciencia). We manipulated and marked owls under Junta de Andalucía Consejería de Medio Ambiente permits No. SCFFS-AFR/GGG RS-260/02 and SCFFS-AFR/CMM RS-1904/02.Peer reviewedPublic Library of Science200820082008info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Publisher's versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion98416 bytes1297305 bytes283457 bytes70788 bytes305491 bytes346521 bytes5804275 bytes886853 bytes590324 bytes238749 bytes286318 bytesapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/6816reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)Inglésinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/68162026-05-22T06:33:51Z
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