Female Siskins Choose Mates by the Size of the Yellow Wing Stripe

• Published in: Behavioral ecology and sociobiology Vol. 57; no. 5; pp. 465 - 469
• Main Authors: Senar, J. C., Domènech, J., Camerino, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01-03-2005; Berlin Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal ethology; Animal wings; Aves; Bibs; Biological and medical sciences; Birds; Body size; Experimentation; Female animals; Females; Foraging; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Male animals; Mating behavior; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Sexual selection; Social behavior; Stripes; Vertebrata; Europe; Spain; Vertebrata; Visual stimulus; Carotene; Color; Female; Mate selection; Parental investment; Aves; Breeding behavior; Field study
• ISSN: 0340-5443; 1432-0762
• DOI: 10.1007/s00265-004-0873-7

Commonly, female birds use the brightly coloured patches on males to choose the best-quality mates. Coloured wing patches, however, have received little attention or have been previously related to social behaviour (as a signal to recruit conspecific individuals at feeding patches) or foraging (to flush prey) contexts, rather than to sexual selection. Here we provide evidence that in siskins (Carduelis spinus), wing patches function in mate choice. Mate-choice experiments showed that females were attracted by the size of the yellow wing stripe of the male, but not by the size of its black bib, body size, general plumage brightness or age. Experiments on birds with manipulated yellow wing stripes showed that females were sensitive to the size of this colour patch, irrespective of other male qualities. The preference of female siskins for males with larger wing patches when searching for a mate may be explained by the relationship of this trait to foraging ability, which would ensure females good parental investment from the chosen male.