Diel timing of nest predation changes across breeding season in a subtropical shorebird

Abstract We developed deterministic models on the basis of nest survival rates and renesting behavior capable of predicting annual fecundity in birds. The models calculate probabilities of fledging from one to four nests within a discrete breeding season. We used those models to address theoretical issues related to clutch size. In general, birds require at least one day to lay an egg, and many species delay incubation until their entire clutch is laid. Because it takes longer to complete a larger clutch, and fewer such clutches can fit into a limited breeding season, there exists a clutch size for which annual fecundity is maximized. We asked, for a given amount of reproductive effort (i.e. a set number of eggs), does the age-old maxim “don't put all your eggs in one basket” apply? If so, in how many “baskets” should a nesting bird place its eggs? The answer depends on both likelihood of nest predation and length of the breeding season. Those results are consistent with the observed increase in clutch size with latitude (shorter breeding season length) and larger clutch sizes characteristic of cavity-nesting species (with higher nest survival rates). The models also predict that the size of replacement clutches should decrease as the breeding season progresses, and that intraseasonal decline in clutch size should be more pronounced when the breeding season is short.

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Day- and night-time parental investment by incubating Wilson's Plovers in a tropical environment

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z95-103 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 73 (5) ◽

pp. 879-886 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Michel Thibault ◽

Raymond McNeil

Keyword(s):

Breeding Season ◽

Nest Predation ◽

Time Lapse ◽

Video Camera ◽

Nest Attendance ◽

Night Time ◽

Low Light ◽

Charadrius Wilsonia ◽

Infrared Lamps ◽

Time Lapse Video

With the use of a time-lapse video camera and infrared lamps, we quantified diurnal and nocturnal incubation sex roles in 17 pairs of Wilson's Plovers (Charadrius wilsonia cinnamominus) breeding in northeastern Venezuela. More than 82% of nests reached the hatching stage. Between the laying of the last egg and hatching of the first one, parents devoted 83% of their time incubating. Males spent more time incubating than females. Males incubated mainly at night and females mostly during daytime. Males also spent significantly more time incubating during daytime than did females during nighttime. During incubation, females relieved males at dawn and males relieved females at dusk. By relieving each other under conditions of low light intensity, parents probably reduced nest predation. Outside the breeding season, the Wilson's Plovers forage almost exclusively during nighttime. In contrast, during the breeding season, males foraged mainly during daytime low tides, probably as a consequence of their nocturnal nest attendance. During short daytime periods, on cloudy days, incubating plovers, particularly the females, abandoned their eggs to forage.

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Nests Without Eggs: Abandonment or Cryptic Predation?

The Auk ◽

10.1093/auk/123.1.135 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 123 (1) ◽

pp. 135-140

Author(s):

J. Dylan Maddox ◽

Patrick J. Weatherhead

Keyword(s):

Breeding Season ◽

Nest Predation ◽

Egg Laying ◽

Nest Building ◽

Nest Construction ◽

Accurate Identification ◽

Video Cameras ◽

Detailed Observation ◽

Mate Switching ◽

Predation Rates

AbstractWe determined whether nests that did not receive eggs was attributable to cryptic nest predation (i.e. predation of eggs laid between nest checks) or nest abandonment in Common Grackles (Quiscalus quiscula). Nest predation was extremely low (∼2%), whereas more than 44% of 427 nests found during nest building never received an egg; this indicates that nest abandonment accounted for most nests without eggs. Nest construction was completed for 32% of nests that were abandoned. Few nests known to have received eggs were abandoned. As the breeding season progressed, both nest abandonment and time from nest completion to first egg decreased. It has been proposed that the delay in egg laying early in the season allows females to optimize timing of egg laying. Nest abandonment may also serve this purpose, but seems an unnecessarily expensive mechanism. Alternatively, nest abandonment could be involved with mate switching. Understanding why nests are abandoned requires data on the associated ecological circumstances, in addition to accurate identification of instances of abandonment. The latter requires distinguishing abandonment from cryptic predation. Rates of nest abandonment can be estimated for populations by using rates of known nest predation during egg laying. For individual nests, however, distinguishing abandonment from cryptic predation requires detailed observation (e.g. video cameras), except in circumstances such as ours, where predation is extremely low.Nidos sin Huevos:?Abandono o Depredación Críptica?

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The Role of Food, Nest Predation, and Climate in Timing of Wrentit Reproductive Activities

The Condor ◽

10.1093/condor/108.4.832 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 108 (4) ◽

pp. 832-841 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kristine L. Preston ◽

John T. Rotenberry

Keyword(s):

Breeding Season ◽

Nest Predation ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Egg Laying ◽

Laying Date ◽

Supplemental Food ◽

Fitness Consequences ◽

Average Rainfall ◽

Reproductive Activities

Abstract Abstract Timing of breeding activities by birds hasimportant fitness consequences, as deciding when tonest can affect nest success. For three breedingseasons, we provided supplemental food to Wrentits(Chamaeafasciata) inhabitingsemiarid shrublands. We tested the effects of foodsupplementation on timing of initial egg laying,number of nests attempted, timing of fledging, andlength of the breeding season. We also evaluatedwhether Wrentits timed nest initiation to avoidperiods of greatest predation risk. Our study wasconducted during a period of high interannualvariation in precipitation. Supplemental food didnot advance laying date in Wrentits. During adrought, even Wrentits given supplemental fooddelayed nesting, initiated fewer nesting attempts,fledged young earlier, and reduced the length ofthe breeding season. In a year of average rainfall,supplemental food allowed pairs to continuerenesting late into the summer, after repeated nestlosses from predation. Wrentits did not timenesting to avoid periods of greatest predationrisk. In timing initial breeding, Wrentits appearedto be responding to climatic conditions and toindirect cues that predicted environmentalconditions later in the breeding season rather thanto food availability at the time of egg laying.

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Can nest predation and predator type explain variation in dispersal of adult birds during the breeding season ?

Behavioral Ecology ◽

10.1093/beheco/11.4.437 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 437-443 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Larkin A. Powell ◽

Laura L. Frasch

Keyword(s):

Breeding Season ◽

Nest Predation

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Can Nest Predation Explain the Timing of the Breeding Season and the Pattern of Nest Dispersion of New Holland Honeyeaters?

Oikos ◽

10.2307/3545849 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 69 (3) ◽

pp. 364 ◽

Cited By ~ 43

Author(s):

R. E. Major ◽

G. H. Pyke ◽

M. T. Christy ◽

G. Gowing ◽

R. S. Hill

Keyword(s):

Breeding Season ◽

Nest Predation

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Diel timing of nest predation changes across breeding season in a subtropical shorebird

10.22541/au.162218472.26998411/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Martin Sládeček ◽

Kateřina Brynychová ◽

Esmat Elhassan ◽

Miroslav Salek ◽

Veronika Janatová ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breeding Season ◽

Nest Predation ◽

Predation Rate ◽

Diel Activity ◽

Limited Information ◽

Nest Failure ◽

Ground Temperatures ◽

Diel Activity Pattern ◽

Geographical Regions ◽

Ground Nesting

Predation is the most common cause of nest failure in birds. While nest predation is relatively well studied in general, our knowledge is unevenly distributed across the globe and taxa, with for example limited information on shorebirds breeding in sub-tropics. Importantly, we know fairly little about the timing of predation within a day and season. Here, we followed 444 nests of red-wattled lapwings (Vanellus indicus), a ground-nesting shorebird, for a sum of 7828 days to estimate a nest predation rate, and continuously monitored 230 of these nests for a sum of 2779 days to reveal how the timing of predation changes over the day and season in a sub-tropical desert. We found that 312 nests (70%) hatched, 76 nests (17%) were predated, 23 (5%) failed for other reasons and 33 (7%) had an unknown fate. Daily predation rate was 0.95% (95%CrI: 0.76% – 1.19%), which for a 30-day long incubation period translates into ~25% (20% – 30%) chance of nest being predated. Such a predation rate is low compared to most other avian species. Predation events (N = 25) were distributed evenly across day and night, with a tendency for increased predation around sunrise. Predation rate and events were distributed evenly also across the season, although night predation was more common later in the season, perhaps because predators reduce their activity during daylight to avoid extreme heat. Indeed, nests were never predated when mid-day ground temperatures exceeded 45°C. Whether the diel activity pattern of resident predators undeniably changes across the breeding season and whether the described predation patterns hold for other populations, species and geographical regions awaits future investigations.

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Climatic Variability, Nest Predation, and Reproductive Output of Lilac-Crowned Parrots (Amazona Finschi) in Tropical Dry Forest of Western Mexico

The Auk ◽

10.1093/auk/121.4.1214 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 121 (4) ◽

pp. 1214-1225

Author(s):

Katherine Renton ◽

Alejandro Salinas-Melgoza

Keyword(s):

Clutch Size ◽

Breeding Season ◽

Nest Predation ◽

Reproductive Output ◽

Climatic Variability ◽

Tropical Dry Forest ◽

Dry Forest ◽

Western Mexico ◽

Nestling Survival ◽

Interannual Fluctuations

Abstract For 1996–2003, we determined reproductive output and success of 70 Lilaccrowned Parrot (Amazona finschi) nests in tropical dry forest of the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve in western Mexico. Only 42% of nests had young that fledged; predation was the main cause of nest failure. Low brood survival in 2000 and 2003 caused significant between-year variation in the probability of nest success during the nestling phase of the nest cycle. Reproductive output of Lilac-crowned Parrots was low, with females producing an average of 0.99 fledglings on an initial investment of 2.6 eggs. The fecundity component of clutch size varied significantly between years, because of the high median clutch size recorded in 2000. Nestling survival also varied significantly between years, creating large interannual fluctuations in reproductive output. The most productive breeding season was 1999, with an average output of 1.7 fledglings on an investment of 2.7 eggs; whereas the poorest breeding season was 2000, with an output of 0.57 fledglings from 3.3 eggs. Loss of reproductive potential was greatest in 2000 and 2003, because of brood reduction through starvation of later-hatched nestlings, with hatching order influencing the probability of nestling survival. Mean number of nestlings per egg-laying female was associated with interannual fluctuations in precipitation resulting from the El Niño-La Niña weather cycle in the Pacific Ocean. Both nest predation and food availability may limit parrot reproduction in tropical dry forests, with populations of threatened species in dry habitats being vulnerable to effects of climatic variability and habitat fragmentation.

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Return rates of nest-box breeding Pied Flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca to their breeding site in subalpine birch forest in Swedish Lapland, during 1965–2018

Ornis Svecica ◽

10.34080/os.v29.20019 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 29 ◽

pp. 53-68

Author(s):

N Erik I Nyholm

Keyword(s):

Breeding Season ◽

Breeding Success ◽

Nest Predation ◽

Breeding Site ◽

Ficedula Hypoleuca ◽

Return Rate ◽

Significant Part ◽

Northern Sweden ◽

Return Rates ◽

Local Factors

Return rates of 4,178 female and 1,565 male breeding Pied Flycatchers ringed in 1965–2017 were studied near the species’ upper elevation and climatic limit in northern Sweden. Female return rate was 7.5% in the season subsequent to the first breeding season. Having returned once, 37% continued to return the next three seasons. Corresponding return rates of males were 27% and 39%. Female return rate decreased with more than 30% during the study period whereas that of males did not decrease. This difference was probably due to increased mortality during the non-breeding season that selectively struck females after the 1970s. Local factors affected return rates in both sexes. Return rate was positively correlated with breeding success in females but negatively in males, whereas it was correlated with nest-predation in the opposite way. Predation by mustelids accounted for a significant part of female return rate. Females that had returned once were continuously faithful to the former breeding site. Males showed faithfulness only after having returned twice.

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Breeding success of Cacicus haemorrhous (Linnaeus) (Aves: Icteridae) in different environments in an Atlantic Forest reserve in Southeast Brazil

Revista Brasileira de Zoologia ◽

10.1590/s0101-81752008000200002 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 165-171 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Charles Duca ◽

Miguel Ângelo Marini

Keyword(s):

Breeding Season ◽

Atlantic Forest ◽

Breeding Success ◽

Nest Predation ◽

Nest Survival ◽

Nest Failure ◽

Forest Reserve ◽

Lower Survival ◽

Southeast Brazil ◽

Colonial Birds

Several factors, including the site where the colony was established and number of active nests can influence directly or indirectly the breeding success of colonial birds. The red-rumped cacique, Cacicus haemorrhous (Linnaeus, 1766), is a passerine (Icteridae) that breeds in colonies in different environments. The objective of this study was to evaluate the breeding success of red-rumped cacique in relation to three environments (lake edge, forest and swamp) in which colonies were established in an Atlantic Forest reserve in southeast Brazil. Seven colonies from the three environments were monitored during the breeding season of 2001. Overall probability of nest survival was 40.5%. We found that colonies established in the swamp presented higher nest survival than the others and the ones in the lake edge had lower survival. Nest predation was the most important cause of nest failure, representing 46.5% of all nest losses. Other failure causes were abandonment and fall of nests, representing 6.6% and 6.1% of the losses, respectively. Red-rumped cacique had higher success breeding in colonies located in the swamp.

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