Wednesday, October 14
Cooperation and Conflict: The Bizarre Breeding Behaviors of Tropical Cuckoos
Christine Riehl, Princeton University
The anis, including the Groove-billed and Smooth-billed Anis of Texas and Florida and the Greater Ani of South America, share an unusual breeding strategy known as communal nesting. Several pairs cooperatively build a single nest in which all of the females lay their eggs, and the entire group shares incubation, nest defense, and parental care. In this talk, Christie Riehl will discuss the results of her long-term field study of Greater Anis in Panama, focusing on the fascinating cooperative behaviors of this tropical cuckoo.
Christie Riehl is an assistant professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University and a lifelong birder. Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, she received her PhD from Princeton University in 2011 and returned to Princeton in 2015 after a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University.
Recent meetings
May 2020: An Online Quiz, with Rick Wright.
June 2020: A Walk on Pipeline Road, by Sandy Sorkin.
July 2020: The Real James Bond, by Jim Wright.
August 2020: An Online Quiz, with Rick Wright
September 2020: Manakins and Microbes, by Jeniffer Houtz
A greater ani, photographed by Rick Wright.
A squirrel cuckoo, photographed by Sandy Sorkin
