Search results for "bird nest"
showing 10 items of 10 documents
The roles of temperature, nest predators and information parasites for geographical variation in egg covering behaviour of tits (Paridae)
2020
Abstract Aim: Nest building is widespread among animals. Nests may provide receptacles for eggs, developing offspring and the parents, and protect them from adverse environmental conditions. Nests may also indicate the quality of the territory and its owner and can be considered as an extended phenotype of its builder(s). Nests may, thus, function as a sexual and social signal. Here, we examined ecological and abiotic factors—temperature, nest predation and interspecific information utilization—shaping geographical variation in a specific nest structure—hair and feather cover of eggs—and its function as an extended phenotype before incubation in great (Parus major) and blue tits (Cyanistes …
Ptiliolum marginatum (Aube, 1850) (Coleoptera: Ptiliidae)– gatunek nowy dla Polski z Białowieskiego Parku Narodowego
2021
We present the first record of Ptiliolum marginatum for Poland. The specimens have been extracted from two nests of the wood warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix in 2020, during investigations of the invertebrate fauna inhabiting bird nests. The samples were collected in the strictly protected part of the Białowieża National Park, in eastern Poland. We provide general information on the geographical distribution of Ptiliolum marginatum in Europe, the state of knowledge of the genus Ptiliolum in Poland, and further documentation including colour photographs of dorsal and ventral habitus, and characteristic features of hind femora and spermatheca of females.
Interspecific attraction between ground-nesting songbirds and ants: the role of nest-site selection
2021
Abstract Background Interspecific interactions within ecological networks can influence animal fitness and behaviour, including nest-site selection of birds and ants. Previous studies revealed that nesting birds and ants may benefit from cohabitation, with interspecific attraction through their nest-site choice, but mutual interactions have not yet been tested. We explored a previously undescribed ecological link between ground-nesting birds and ants raising their own broods (larvae and pupae) within the birds’ nests in a temperate primeval forest of lowland Europe. We tested whether the occurrence of ant broods within bird nests resulted from a mutual or one-sided interspecific attraction …
Occupation of wood warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix nests by Myrmica and Lasius ants
2018
Bird nests can provide habitats for various invertebrates, including ectoparasites, scavengers, and predators. Records of ants associating with active bird nests mostly involve the insects searching for food, with some exceptional records of ants raising their broods (eggs, larvae or pupae) within songbird nests in nest-boxes or tree cavities. We present data for a previously undocumented, but apparently regular, occurrence of ants and their broods within the active nests of a songbird, the wood warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix (Bechstein, 1793), which builds domed nests on the ground in European forests. Systematic recording found ants, mostly Myrmica ruginodis Nylander, 1846, in 43% of 80 …
Redescription of Chiropturopoda nidiphila Wiśniewski & Hirschmann (Acari: Uropodina) from a woodpecker’s tree holes, including all development stages…
2021
All development stages of Chiropturopoda nidiphila Wiśniewski & Hirschmann, 1983 are described, which has previously been known only from the deutonymph stage. The species is closely associated with tree holes excavated by woodpeckers. Chiropturopoda nidiphila was redescribed and the genus diagnosis was completed. The description of the species morphology is based largely on scanning (SEM) electronograms. Diagnoses differentiating all of the known species of the genus Chiropturopoda are provided, including their developmental stages.
Clutch-size variation in Western Palaearctic secondary hole-nesting passerine birds in relation to nest box design.
2014
Møller, A.P. [et al.]
Effects of spatial scale and vegetation cover on predation of artificial ground nests
1995
Scale-dependent effects of landscape heterogeneity on predation of artificial ground nests were studied. Two spatial scales were selected: landscape grain size and single stand size. The landscape types did not differ from each other in their total predation intensity. Depredation was highest in larger stands in all the landscape types studied and the highest predation rate was detected in the largest stands within the most fragmented landscapes. This is possibly due to concentration of rodent-eating predators from surrounding open areas into large stands in the study year when their main prey, voles, crashed. In crash years, alternative predation on e.g. forest bird nests may play an impor…
Decomposition of nest material in tree holes and nest-boxes occupied by European Starlings Sturnus vulgaris: an experimental study
2017
Numerous bird species depend on the availability of tree cavities, and most non-excavators fill their cavities with considerable amounts of nest material. If not removed, this material can accumulate and render cavities unusable, as recorded in some nest-box studies. Data from earlier studies of tree cavities, however, showed that nest material can decrease mostly due to in situ decomposition, but the relative difference between nest decomposition in tree holes and nest-boxes is still unknown. We undertook parallel studies of decay in tree holes and nest-boxes used by European Starlings Sturnus vulgaris in oak-hornbeam stands (SW Poland). We inserted into its tree holes and nest-boxes litte…
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…
Variation in Great Tit Nest Mass and Composition and Its Breeding Consequences: A Comparative Study in four Mediterranean Habitats
2013
Bird nests are structures whose properties affect breeding performance. Thus, the vast majority of bird species build their own characteristic nests, selecting appropriate materials to do so. However, in habitats where the availability of "ideal" materials is low, some ability to use alternative ones would be necessary, even at the cost of having breeding success reduced. The Great Tit (Parus major) breeds under widely different environmental conditions. Its nests are althought to be composed mainly of moss, although very few studies have quantified nest composition. Our target here was describing Great Tit nest mass and composition in four different Mediterranean habitats, and exploring th…