Does supernormal stimulus influence parental behaviour of the cuckoo's host?

@article{Grim2001DoesSS,
  title={Does supernormal stimulus influence parental behaviour of the cuckoo's host?},
  author={Tom{\'a}{\vs} Grim and Marcel Honza},
  journal={Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology},
  year={2001},
  volume={49},
  pages={322-329},
  url={https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:25768229}
}
The results of this study suggest that the parental behaviour of reed warblers is adjusted by selection to the needs of an average-sized brood, supported by the finding that the relationship between nestling mass and proportion of less economical small prey is inverse to the relationships between nestle mass and prey size.
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30 References

Nestling competition, rather than supernormal stimulus, explains the success of parasitic brown-headed cowbird chicks in yellow warbler nests

It is suggested that the success of the brown-headed cowbirds when parasitizing yellow warblers is due to them physically out-competing the smaller young of their hosts, and not to them evoking a stronger response from the hosts by being a supernormal stimulus.

How selfish is a cuckoo chick?

Rapid calling reflects the way the cuckoo exploits the provisioning rules that hosts use to feed their own young, and whether cuckoos are likely to have gens-specific begging displays is discussed.

Signals of need in parent–offspring communication and their exploitation by the common cuckoo

It is shown that the cuckoo, reared alone in the nest, presents a deficient visual display and elicits the same amount of care as a reed warbler brood only by compensating with its exaggerated vocal display, and succeeds not through mimicry of the host brood begging signals, but by tuning into the sensory predispositions of its hosts.

THE RED GAPE OF THE NESTLING CUCKOO (CUCULUS CANORUS) IS NOT A SUPERNORMAL STIMULUS FOR THREE COMMON HOSTS

It is suggested that although mouth colour has little influence on the allocation of feeds resulting from sibling competition and begging intensity in these species, it may have a role under certain conditions.

Nestling cuckoos, Cuculus canorus, exploit hosts with begging calls that mimic a brood

It is suggested that the cuckoo needs vocal trickery to stimulate adequate care to compensate for the fact that it presents a visual stimulus of just one gape.

Host species affects the growth rate of cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) chicks

It is found that cuckoo nestlings raised by the larger host species, the great reed warbler, grew significantly faster and became statistically significantly larger at fledging than nestlingsraised by the smaller host, the reing warbler.

Cuckoos versus reed warblers: Adaptations and counteradaptations

Exploitation of host mechanisms for parental care by avian brood parasites

It is shown that none of the hypotheses can satisfactorily explain the nearly total lack of chick mimicry and it is suggested that nonmimetic parasites prevent rejection by exploiting a set of "imperfect" behavioural mechanisms in hosts.

Prey choice and nestling hunger: an experiment with pied flycatchers, Ficedula hypoleuca

Begging behavior and food acquisition by brown-headed cowbird nestlings

It is suggested that food acquisition by host chicks in unparasitized nests could be increased by the exaggeration of begging signals, and the role of novel begging behaviors in cowbird food acquisition is not found.

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