Dipper nestlings fed by a Gray Wagtail

Describes the behavior of a male gray wagtail who fed Eurasian dipper nestlings. The male usually perched on the dipper nest on the way to feeding his own nestlings and seemed to be responding to the dipper nestlings' loud cries. As the wagtail male made more food deliveries to the dipper nestlings, the dipper parents made fewer food deliveries to their nestlings, and the wagtail female made more deliveries to the wagtail nestlings. The wagtail male's investment in the dipper nestlings was probably a maladaptive response to the proximity of loudly begging chicks. It also appears to have been a self-perpetuating behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)