Search results for "Nest box"
showing 8 items of 18 documents
Do Pied Flycatcher Females Defend an Extra Nest Hole Against Conspecific Females?
1999
AbstractIn birds, females are often aggressive against conspecific females during the breeding. There are many explanations for this intrasexual aggression by females: e.g., nest site or food resource defence, prevention of intraspecific brood parasitism or infanticide, and monopolization of paternal care. A pair might also benefit by defending an alternative nest site in addition to the current nest site. Here, I study by experimentation whether pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) females defend an extra nest box as an alternative nesting site. Further, I examine whether females behave differently when their mate is present vs not present. I measured the reactions by resident females to a…
Ectoparasites, nest site choice and breeding success in the pied flycatcher
1994
It has recently been suggested that nest box studies might bias the measurement of behavioural and life-history traits, because the removal of old nests may reduce the load of ectoparasites. This experimental artefact may have notable effects on nest site choice and breeding success in cavity-breeding birds. We tested (i) if pied flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca prefer clean nest boxes and (ii) if old nest material affects the number of parasites and the breeding success of pied flycatchers. In the first experiment we offered birds one cleaned nest box and one nest box with old nest material from the previous year. The two nest boxes were placed in very similar sites near each other. In this …
Habitat preferences of edible dormouse, Glis glis italicus: implications for the management of arboreal mammals in Mediterranean forests
2015
Research on arboreal mammals living in Mediterranean forests is poor. Molecular research assessed the existence of an evolutionary significant unit in the edible dormouse populations living in south Italy, Sicily and Sardinia, and we decided to investigate the environmental factors capable of explaining its occurrence and abundance in Sicily, for a better management of these populations. We assessed the species habitat preferences by setting 25 large and 25 small nestboxes in five sample areas along an altitudinal gradient of the Madonie Range, and recorded habitat variables, food availability, and demographic data for two years. To obtain synthetic descriptors of the dormice habitat requir…
Impact of Busy Roads on Breeding Success in Pied Flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca
2002
The impact of dense traffic on the breeding success in pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) was studied using roadside nest-boxes. Nest site selection and breeding success of flycatchers were observed in relation to the distance from the road. The number of occupied territories was no higher closer to the road than it was deeper inside the forest. The distance to the road had no effect on the laying date, clutch size, or brood size. However, nests closer to the road were more likely to fail at the chick stage. The number of broods that were closer to roads and were lost completely was significantly higher than those further away. As a consequence, the number of fledglings per breeding atte…
Predation as a landscape effect: the trading off by prey species between predation risks and protection benefits.
2007
1. Predators impose costs on their prey but may also provide benefits such as protection against other (e.g. nest) predators. The optimal breeding location in relation to the distance from a nesting raptor varies so as to minimize the sum of costs of adult and nest predation. We provide a conceptual model to account for variation in the relative predation risks and derive qualitative predictions for how different prey species should respond to the distance from goshawk Accipiter gentilis nests. 2. We test the model predictions using a comprehensive collection of data from northern Finland and central Norway. First, we carried out a series of experiments with artificial bird nests to test if…
The design of artificial nestboxes for the study of secondary hole-nesting birds: A review of methodological inconsistencies and potential biases
2010
The widespread use of artificial nestboxes has led to significant advances in our knowledge of the ecology, behaviour and physiology of cavity nesting birds, especially small passerines. Nestboxes have made it easier to perform routine monitoring and experimental manipulation of eggs or nestlings, and also repeatedly to capture, identify and manipulate the parents. However, when comparing results across study sites the use of nestboxes may also introduce a potentially significant confounding variable in the form of differences in nestbox design amongst studies, such as their physical dimensions, placement height, and the way in which they are constructed and maintained. However, the use of …
Competition for nest-boxes among four vertebrate species: an experimental study in orange groves
1990
The experiment was carried out in eastern Spain from 1986 to 1988. The nest-boxes were placed at the height where natural holes occur, visited twice a week, and cleaned after every breeding season. Four vertebrate species used the nest-boxes: great tit Parus major, house sparrow Passer domesticus, tree sparrow Passer montanus, and black rat Rattus rattus. The first species to occupy the nest-boxes, the great tit, was the least able to defend them. During the third year breeding by the great tit in the nest-boxes decreased markedly, probably due to the increase of house sparrow and black rat occupation. We suggest that differences among species in their ability to discover and use new holes …
Forehead Patch Size Predicts the Outcome of Male–Male Competition in the Pied Flycatcher
2013
Males of many animal species express ornaments that affect their reproduction opportunities through male–male competition or female mate choice. Such ornaments can, for example, inform conspecifics about the fighting ability, condition or territory ownership of the bearer. Pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) males have a conspicuous white forehead patch that varies greatly in size. We examined whether the white forehead patch is an intrasexually selected trait in a Finnish population. We artificially manipulated forehead patch size to represent two naturally occurring extremes and competed males against each other in the presence of a female. Males with a large forehead patch were more agg…