scholarly journals Nest-building Behaviour of the Asian Open Billed Stork Anastomus oscitans, in the Kulik Bird Sanctuary, Raiganj, India

Our Nature ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-47
Author(s):  
A.K. Pramanik ◽  
K.B. Santra ◽  
C.K. Manna
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Heavy Rain ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Nest Building ◽  
Nest Attendance ◽  
Nest Protection ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Building Behaviour ◽  
Incubation Pattern

A field study of the nest-building behaviour in the breeding season of the Asian Open-Billed Stork, Anastomus oscitans, was conducted in the Kulik Bird Sanctuary, Raiganj, Uttar Dinajpur, West Bengal, India. Observations were made throughout one complete breeding season (2007-2008) in the sanctuary. The open-billed stork comes in the last week of June at the Kulik bird sanctuary, stays there for 5 to 6 months and leaves the place in the month of December of every year. From the present observations it was noticed that about 58920 storks came to Kulik during 2008. Various types of behaviour were observed during this particular period. Coming to the Kulik, pairing of the individual storks start and mating display was observed within a day or two. Birds of a pair supplied the nest building materials to form the nest.  To give a definite shape to the nest it took about 12-15 days before egg laying. The nesting territory consisted of a semicircle, some times circular and approximately with 30.21 ± 0.12 cm radius. The depth of the nest was about 6.9 ± 0.02 cm. The nest building materials consisted of fragments of old branches of trees, some soft green leaves and grasses. These branches helped in strengthening and the leaves and grasses helped in softening of the nest.  During the incubation period both sexes were involved to incubate the eggs. Nest attendance of the breeding birds was continuous during the first 2-months period. From regular observation it was noticed that either of the pair took additional care by spreading their wings during the time of heavy sunshine or heavy rain. The main behavioral patterns examined were aerial displays, mating pattern, nest building, egg laying and incubation pattern, nest defense and nest protection. Diversity of nesting behavior in open-billed stork was pointed out and discussed.Key words: Asian Open-Billed Stork, Kulik Bird Sanctuary, Nest-building behaviorDOI: 10.3126/on.v7i1.2552Our Nature (2009) 7:39-47

Incubation and Nest-Building Behaviour of Black-Headed Gulls

Behaviour ◽  
1966 ◽  
Vol 26 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 189-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.G. Beer
Keyword(s):  
Incubation Period ◽  
Reproductive Season ◽  
Nest Building ◽  
External Control ◽  
Parental Behaviour ◽  
Incubation Behaviour ◽  
Building Behaviour ◽  
Natural Situation ◽  
Incubation Pattern

Abstract(1) Parental behaviour, and its development from incubation behaviour during the reproductive season, is described. (2) Day to day observations of the natural situation showed that elements of the incubation pattern persist throughout the post-hatching period but progressively decline in quantity, duration and completeness. (3) Substitution of eggs for chicks also showed that the readiness to show incubation responses in a standard incubation situation declines progressively during the post-hatching period. (4) A certain amount of experience with hatched chicks renders Black-headed Gulls incapable of immediately returning to sustained incubation behaviour if the conditions of the incubation period are restored. (5) Failure of the eggs to hatch results in extension of the incubation behaviour period beyond the normal time. (6) Premature introduction of hatched chicks in the nests of incubating gulls can cause the gulls to switch to parental behaviour and so end the incubation behaviour period before the normal time. (7) The timing of the change from incubation to parental behaviour is thus mainly a matter of external control. (8) Certain of the relationships found to hold between responses having an incubation function and responses having a nest-building function in the earlier phases also hold in the post-hatching period.

An examination of nest-building behaviour using five different nesting materials in C57BL/6J and BALB/c mice

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-477
Author(s):  
B Obermueller ◽  
C Castellani ◽  
H Till ◽  
B Reininger-Gutmann ◽  
G Singer
Keyword(s):  
Building Materials ◽  
Home Cage ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Random Order ◽  
Nest Building ◽  
Laboratory Animals ◽  
Adult Mice ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
Female Pair ◽  
Building Behaviour

The aim of our study was to assess the nest-building behaviour of two mouse (Mus musculus) strains using different nesting materials and examine possible sex- and housing-specific effects. Adult mice of two strains (C57BL/6J; n = 64 and BALB/cAnNCrl; n = 99) were randomly allocated to the following housing groups: single-housed male, single-housed female, pair-housed male and pair-housed female. One of the following nest-building materials was placed in each home-cage in a random order: nestlets (Plexx BV, The Netherlands), cocoons (Carfil, Belgium), wooden wool, crinklets and compact (all three, Safe, Germany). The following day, nests were rated applying a nest-scoring scale ranging from 0 to 10, the nests were removed, and a different nest-building material provided. In both tested strains, nestlets achieved the highest nest-building scores when compared to the other four nest-building materials. All nest-building materials scored higher in BALB/c mice compared to C57BL/6J animals reaching statistical significance in crinklets only. Sex comparison revealed that female C57BL/6J mice only scored significantly higher using crinklets than males and BALB/c female mice were rated significantly higher using wooden wool, cocoons and compact than their male counterparts. While pair-housed C57BL/6J animals built higher-rated nests than single-housed mice in the C57BL/6J strain in all five materials tested, the scores were not significantly different in the BALB/c strain. Results of the present study reveal significant strain-, sex- and housing-related influences on the complexity of nests using different standardised building materials. Such observations need to be taken into account when planning the optimal enrichment programme for laboratory animals.

scholarly journals Nests Without Eggs: Abandonment or Cryptic Predation?

The Auk ◽  
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?

scholarly journals Nest-Building Effort is Not An Indicator of Male Quality In Bonelli’s Eagles, Aquila fasciata

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
José E. Martínez ◽  
Íñigo Zuberogoitia ◽  
José F. Calvo ◽  
Mario Álvarez ◽  
Antoni Margalida
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Success ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Nest Building ◽  
Male Quality ◽  
Honest Signal ◽  
Parental Quality ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Sex Type ◽  
Aquila Fasciata ◽  
Building Behaviour

Abstract Raptors often use a variety of materials to build their nests (natural, such as branches, but also non-natural objects), presumably due to their insulating properties, their suitability to advertise occupancy of the nest, and to decrease pathogen and parasite loads. The amount of branches used in a nest is an indicator of parental quality and is often associated with increased breeding success. However, in raptors where both sexes collaborate in nest construction, it is unclear whether the effort expended by males (taking the amount of material carried to the nest as the potential predictor) could constitute an honest signal of parental quality to female conspecifics. We examined data on sex, type of material brought to the nest, breeding experience, timing, and nest-building investment prior to egg-laying from 32 identifiable Bonelli’s Eagles (Aquila fasciata) during the pre-laying period to investigate the relative contribution of the sexes to the amount of nest material gathered. We asked: (1) whether the nest-building investment of males could provide information to the females about their quality; and (2) whether the amount of material delivered to the nest by the male was related to breeding success. Despite the considerable investment of males in nest-building during the pre-laying period, our results indicate that this effort is not a consistent indicator of male quality to the female. Therefore, male nest-building behaviour and investment by Bonelli’s Eagles cannot be considered as an extended expression of their phenotype (an extended phenotypic signal). Nest-building behaviour by males in the early and late stages of nest-building, and the fact that males were not significantly more active builders, are discussed in the contexts of signaling nest occupancy to conspecifics and competitors, the decrease of parasite loads, and the strengthening of the pair-bond during the pre-laying period.

Some Social and Hormonal Determinants of Nest-Building Behaviour in the Ring Dove (Streptopelia Risoria)

Behaviour ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 45 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 12-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl J. Erickson ◽  
Marie Christine Martinez-Vargas
Keyword(s):  
Building Materials ◽  
Nest Site ◽  
Pine Needles ◽  
Nest Building ◽  
Diurnal Changes ◽  
Streptopelia Risoria ◽  
Ring Dove ◽  
Nest Materials ◽  
Building Behaviour ◽  
Ring Doves

AbstractTwo experiments were performed to evaluate some of the controlling factors in ring dove nest-building behaviour. In the first study six pairs of animals were observed each day until the first egg appeared. Behaviour was recorded during four intervals on each day in order to obtain estimates of diurnal changes in behaviour. Moreover, each pair was presented with a variety of nest-building materials in order to determine those kinds that would be most acceptable to the animals in subsequent studies. The birds showed striking diurnal changes in behaviour. Bow-cooing, aggressive pecking by the male, nest soliciting, time-in-the-nest, and allopreening exhibited a steady decline throughout the day. Nest-building activity reached a peak between one and seven hours after the lights came on in the morning and then declined throughout the remainder of the day. By contrast, copulatory behaviour, though infrequent in the morning hours, rose sharply in the late afternoon and reached a peak during the evening watch. Feeding and self-preening also increased slightly during the afternoon and evening. The ring doves also showed marked preferences in their choice of nest materials. Light-colored reed was preferred almost exclusively to dark-colored reed. Moreover, as nest construction progressed, there was a change in the type of material collected. During early building approximately equal numbers of pine needles as well as light and heavy reed were collected. As the nest neared completion, reed collection diminished and pine needles alone were collected. The resulting structure consisted of a base of several materials lined with pine needles alone. Observations in this first experiment suggested that gathering activity by the male was elicited by the presence of the female in the nest site. A second experiment was designed to examine this relationship. Twelve female ring doves were injected with progesterone and diethylstilboestrol while another twelve females served as oil-injected controls. Hormone-treated females were found to become more firmly established at the nest site during the first two days after introduction to a male. The males mated with these hormone-treated females engaged in more nest material gathering than did males mated with oil-treated females. It was concluded that gathering behaviour by the male is determined, at least in part, by relevant social cues from the female.

Developing Environmentally Sustainable and Cost-Effective Geopolymer Concrete with Improved Characteristics

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 13607
Author(s):  
Alexey N. Beskopylny ◽  
Sergey A. Stel’makh ◽  
Evgenii M. Shcherban’ ◽  
Levon R. Mailyan ◽  
Besarion Meskhi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Compressive Strength ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Strength Characteristics ◽  
Geopolymer Concrete ◽  
Environmental Friendliness ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Capital Construction

Improving the efficiency and quality of construction mainly depends on the cost of building materials, which is about 55–65% of total capital-construction costs. The study aimed to obtain geopolymer fine-grained concrete with improved quality characteristics that meet the construction field’s sustainable development criteria and that have environmental friendliness, economic efficiency, and advantages over competing analogues. The dependences of strength characteristics on various compositions of geopolymer concrete were obtained. It was found that the most effective activator is a composition of NaOH and Na2SiO3 with a ratio of 1:2. The increase in the indicators of the obtained geopolymer concrete from the developed composition (4A) in relation to the base control (1X) was 17% in terms of compressive strength and 24% in tensile strength in bending. Polynomial equations were obtained showing the dependence of the change in the strength characteristics of geopolymer concrete on the individual influence of each of the activators. A significant effect of the composition of the alkaline activator on the strength characteristics of geopolymer fine-grained concrete was noted. The optimal temperature range of heat treatment of geopolymer concrete samples, contributing to the positive kinetics of compressive strength gain at the age of 28 days, was determined. The main technological and recipe parameters for obtaining geopolymers with the desired properties, which meet the ecology requirements and are efficient from the point of view of economics, were determined.

scholarly journals Nests of the Brazilian squirrel Sciurus ingrami Thomas (Rodentia, Sciuridae)

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 816-818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cibele A. Alvarenga ◽  
Sônia A. Talamoni
Keyword(s):  
Tree Species ◽  
Minas Gerais ◽  
Side Branch ◽  
Nest Building ◽  
Palm Tree ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Exotic Tree ◽  
Building Behaviour ◽  
Syagrus Romanzoffiana

Descriptions of Sciurus ingrami Thomas, 1901 nests are not available in the literature. In this study, a survey was made of the distribution of S. ingrami nests in a woodlot located near to the headquarters of the Serra do Caraça Reserve, in state of Minas Gerais, where there is a high concentration of Syagrus romanzoffiana (Chamisso) Glassman palm tree, among other exotic tree species. The nest-building behaviour and the nest characteristics, such as height from the ground, total circumference, diameter of the entrance, and the position of the nest in the tree - in the crown, along the trunk or in a side branch, were described.

scholarly journals Breeding biology of coppersmith barbet, Megalaima haemacephala (Müller, 1776)

2013 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 31-34
Author(s):  
Noor Jahan Sarker ◽  
M Firoj Jaman ◽  
Shariar Mustafa ◽  
Md Saidur Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Incubation Period ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Breeding Success ◽  
Brood Size ◽  
Botanical Garden ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Breeding Biology ◽  
Average Weight ◽  
Average Height ◽  
Average Depth

Breeding biology of the Coppersmith barbet, Megalaima haemacephala (Müller, 1776) was carried out between February, 2006 and January, 2007 at Sharawardy Uddyan, Ramna Park, Curzon Hall and National Botanical Garden. The breeding season started from December and ended in June. In total 20 nests were observed, of which 10 nests were studied in details in four study areas. The coppersmith barbet mostly preferred to make holes on the branches of koroi (Albizzia procera) for nesting. Egg laying started on 15th February in the study areas. Average height of nests from the ground was 9.7m and average depth and diameter of the holes was 29.20cm and 4.46cm respectively. New holes were constructed yearly or the old one was reused. Both the sexes took part in incubation of eggs, brooding and feeding to the nestlings. A total of 30 eggs were laid in 10 nests. Clutch size varied from 2 – 4 eggs (average: 3 eggs). Among them, 20 (66.67%) eggs were hatched and the rest 10 (33.33%) were unhatched and lost. Average incubation period was 14 days. The male and the female incubated the eggs for an average of 27.44 minutes/ hours and 32.56 minutes/ hours, respectively. Average number of nestlings (brood size) per nest was 2. Out of 20 nestlings, 16 left their nests successively. The breeding success was 53.33% in relation to the number of eggs laid and 80% in relation to nestlings hatched. The average weight of eggs and nestlings was 3.59g and 9.33g, respectively. The main causes of loss of the eggs and nestlings were human interference, predation and ectoparasitic infections. Insects and fruits were fed to the nestlings by their parents.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/ujzru.v31i0.15397Univ. j. zool. Rajshahi Univ. Vol. 31, 2012 pp. 31-34 

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