Nest survival of Tricolored Blackbirds in California's Central Valley

[摘要] ABSTRACT The Tricolored Blackbird (Agelaius tricolor), almost entirely restricted to California, USA, has recently been proposed for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Tricolored Blackbirds historically nested in wetlands, but a large proportion of the population now nests in agricultural grain fields where the crop is ready to harvest before the young have fledged. Since 1991, federal agencies have paid farmers to delay harvesting in an effort to increase nesting productivity. However, the relative nesting success of Tricolored Blackbirds breeding in agricultural fields versus wetlands is unknown. Our objectives were to estimate daily survival rate (DSR) of nests, identify habitat covariates that influence nest survival, and estimate the number of young produced per nest. During 2011–2012, we monitored 1,323 Tricolored Blackbird nests in 12 colonies using small temperature data loggers. We modeled DSR using Program RMark with combinations of the following variables: site, habitat type, nest i...

[学科分类] 动物科学

[关键词] Agelaius tricolor;iButton;nest survival;Plegadis chihi