Will this bird which is an “obligate” nest pirate actually fail to reproduce if it cannot steal a nest? In other words this bird cannot construct nest itself regardless of necessity?
Ummm…
Did you click “obligate”?
It means “by necessity”. As in, required to sustain life.
That would strongly suggest to me that the writer either means “no other means of nest acquisition - including building” or is not using the term properly.
But would the bird drop its eggs on the ground if no nest wew avilable or would it simply not lay eggs?
The eggs will come whether the bird wants it or not. If she’s mated, they will be fertile; if she hasn’t, they won’t. She has no control over the egg assembly line. It’s automatic.*
My guess is that if there were no nests at all around, she’d find something that reminded her of a nest and plunk it there. It has to go somewhere. I’d imagine that she’d take a shot at driving off another troupial first, though.
*barring some specialized species adaptation
I’m not sure about the physiology, but at a guess a female Troupial probably would not produce eggs unless the pair had already managed to secure a nest.
Trivia: In the movie version of Charlie’s Angels, the key to where Bosley is being held is that a bird call heard in the background is supposedly a Pygmy Nuthatch. But the bird shown is actually a Troupial. The mistake is so glaring I have to assume it was a joke on the part of the moviemakers.
Yeeaah…must have been a joke, after all Charle’s Angels was a stickler for ornithological detail.
If they were just being careless, they could have used a starling, a sparrow, or a canary. Using a Troupial, which isn’t all that common as a cage bird, took some effort. I’m sure whoever put it in the scene knew it wasn’t a Pygmy Nuthatch.