Nest predation is a determinant factor for the success of birds breeding especially for tropical species. However, it is not clear whether parental color plumage can be used as a visual cue for predators to locate nests. Using 3D-printed models, we tested if the color of the parent’s decoy can influence the predation of artificial birds’ nests. The models were painted with male and female blue manakin (Chiroxiphia caudata) color patterns. This is a small sexual dimorphic passerine, where the male is highly ornamented (conspicuous pattern) while the female shows a matte green color (cryptic pattern). Nest attendance is fully provided by females. We did not find evidence that predation rates differ among treatments (male vs. female coloration), even when controlling the effect of local vegetation density and canopy openness. Our findings do not corroborate recent studies that test similar ideas that used models of large body size birds in open habitats. In conclusion, we suggest that the blue manakin color patterns do not influence the probability of adults to be detected by predators. At natural nests, we expected that other cues (e.g., olfactory) should be more effective for the localization of blue manakin nest in Neotropical forests.

巢捕食是决定鸟类繁殖成功的决定性因素，特别是对于热带物种而言。但是，尚不清楚父母颜色的羽毛是否可以用作捕食者定位巢的视觉提示。我们使用3D打印的模型测试了父母的诱饵的颜色是否会影响人工燕窝的捕食。这些模型涂有雌雄蓝菊（Chiroxiphia caudata）颜色模式。这是一种小型的性二形雀形目，它的雄性具有很高的装饰性（显眼的图案），而雌性则具有无光泽的绿色（隐秘的图案）。雌鸟完全提供鸟巢出勤。我们没有发现证据表明，即使在控制局部植被密度和冠层开放度的影响时，捕食率也因处理而异（雄性对雌性）。我们的发现并不能证实最近的研究，这些研究测试了在开放式栖息地中使用大体型鸟类模型的类似想法。总而言之，我们建议蓝色的麦纳金颜色模式不影响成年天敌被捕食者发现的可能性。在天然巢穴中，我们期望其他线索（例如嗅觉）对于在新热带森林中定位蓝色柑桔巢更有效。