Monogamy, polyandry, polygyny and polygynandry; are dunnocks the most promiscuous bird?

-
A dunnock having its health observed during a bird ringing session.
These beautifully understated birds weigh roughly the same as a 'AA' battery (24 g) and are the same length as two and a half golf tees (14 cm). The dunnock, Prunella modularis are in the bird family accentors and have an amber UK conservation status even though they are protected under The Wildlife and Countryside Act. They are very quiet and unobtrusive birds and are usually seen along flower bed edges or near to bushes. They move in a shuffling gait and come across quite nervy until two rival males meet and then they become very animated and aggressive. Their colouring is quite simple as they are just brown and grey.

A dunnock on the look out. Dunnock-min.jpg
Dunnocks have gone through many adaptions in order to use different breeding strategies. Females mate with more than one male in order to make sure her genes are passed onto the next generation and in hope that they will both help rear her chicks. The males do not like this though as they want to be the one that has their genes passed down. They try to remove rival's sperm in order for them to be the ones who successfully pass on their genes. They do this by pecking at the females cloaca (rear end) and encourage her to eject the sperm. There are four strategies dunnocks use to reproduce. Number 1 is monogamy which is between a male and a female. The next is polyandry more than one male and one female and then polygyny which is one male and more than one female. Lastly there is polygynandry which is 'pairs' with two males and two females. This is all in order to maximise their chances of passing down their genes to the next generation. Reproduction starts at the start of spring in early April. The females and males both build the nests out of leaves and moss. Each clutch contains 4-5 eggs that the females incubates for roughly 12 days but both sexes care for the young.

'Hedge sparrow' is a name that dunncocks are known as even though they are not actually sparrows. however, they are also in the same family of birds as sparrows. They have similar plumage to the house sparrow a they are mostly brown too so they could be easily mistaken with sparrows.

Dunncoks inhabit most areas of Europe as these are native to areas in Eurasia. In the 19th century they were introduced to New Zealand and are now widely spread across the island. Their favourite habitat is gardens and hedgerows where they seek out detritivores as food.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lead poisonings most unheard of victim - the mute swan.

-
Image
Mute swan. Mute swan. On campus there are a few mute swans that can be seen on the lake. The scientific name for the mute swan is Cygnus olor  and they are in the bird family ducks, geese and swans. As all UK birds they are protected under The Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 but this hasn't protected them completely and thus them having an amber UK conservation status. They are very large white waterbirds and are easily recognisable by their long S-shaped neck and orange bill. Protection of the species has increased recently meaning their numbers have begun to increase again. Lead poisoning on lowland rivers was one of the largest threats to swans but in recent years this has been overcome by a ban on lead fishing weights. There are around 6,400 breeding pairs in the UK and 74,000 UK wintering individual birds. Swans are large birds weighing up to 12 kg and having a wing span of over 2 meters. The main diet of a mute swan includes aquatic vegetation which they...
Read more

Growing populations mean issues for ducks.

-
Image
A female mallard. There are many species of ducks that inhabit the UK including mallards, mandarins and long-tailed ducks. The scientific name for the mallard is Anas platrhynchos and they are in the ducks, geese and swans bird family. Their UK conservation status is amber meaning they are under concern but they are protected under The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The males of the species look different to the females of the species meaning they are sexually dimorphic. Male mallards are more colourful than females and have distinctive green heads and yellow beaks. Females are all brown compared to males who have white bodies. They are usually around 60 cm in length and have a wingspan of 81-98 cm. There are between 61,000-146,000 breeding pairs in the UK. A male mallard being followed by a female. There is a close link between food and number of mallards. If there is a lot of food resources in a pond then there will be a lot of mallards but this can lead to overpopulati...
Read more