Prey animals may react differently to predators, which can thus raise plasticity in risk-taking behaviour. We assessed the behavioural responses of nestling-feeding collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) parents towards different avian predator species (Eurasian sparrowhawk, long-eared owl) and a non-threatening songbird (song thrush) by measuring the latency to resume feeding activity. We found that the sexes differed in their responses towards the different stimuli, as males resumed nestling-provisioning sooner after the songbird than after the predator stimuli, while latency of females was not affected by the type of stimulus. Parents breeding later in the season took less risk than early breeders, and mean response also varied across the study years. We detected a considerable repeatability at the within-brood level across stimuli, and a correlation between the latency of parents attending the same nest, implying that they may adjust similarly their risk-taking behaviour to the brood value. Repeated measurements at the same brood suggested that risk-taking behaviour of flycatcher parents is a plastic trait, and sex-specific effects might be the result of sex-specific adjustments of behaviour to the perceived environmental challenge as exerted by different predators. Furthermore, the nest-specific effects highlighted that environmental effects can render consistently similar responses between the parents.

捕食动物对捕食者的反应可能不同，因此可以提高冒险行为的可塑性。我们评估了雏鸟喂养的圈养捕蝇器（Ficedula albicollis）的行为反应）通过测量恢复摄食活动的潜伏期，使父母朝着不同的鸟类捕食者物种（欧亚麻雀，长耳猫头鹰）和不具威胁性的鸣禽（鹅口疮）迈进。我们发现性别对不同刺激的反应有所不同，因为雄性在鸣禽后比捕食者刺激后更早地开始提供雏鸟，而雌性的潜伏期不受刺激类型的影响。在本季节后期进行育种的父母所受的风险要小于早期育种者，并且平均响应在整个研究年中也有所不同。我们在整个刺激范围内的群体内水平上检测到了可观的可重复性，并且参加相同巢穴的父母的潜伏期之间也存在相关性，这意味着他们可以将自己的冒险行为类似地调整为群体值。在同一个巢中重复进行的测量表明，捕蝇器父母的冒险行为是可塑性，而针对性别的影响可能是针对不同掠食者施加的针对感知环境挑战的行为针对性别进行的调整的结果。此外，特定于巢的效应突出表明，环境效应可以使父母之间始终如一地产生相似的响应。