Bold babies: Why the nestlings of some bird groups evolve conspicuous and diverse appearances

Gabriel Jamie and colleagues have published a paper in the journal Evolution exploring the amazing diversification of nestling appearance in the estrildid finches. The paper has been singled out as the Editor's Choice and is featured on the cover of the journal's June issue.

By reconstructing mouth marking evolution across the family, Gabriel and colleagues found evidence that co-evolution with brood parasitic indigobirds and whydahs, as well as adaptation to local light conditions, have played a role in shaping nestling appearance.

Mimicry by brood parasites seems to be associated with accelerated evolution of nestling appearance as the hosts evolve ‘away’ from the parasites and parasites evolve to ‘catch up’.

To learn more, read the full paper here:

https://academic.oup.com/evolut/article/79/6/891/8084667

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