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opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: Nest-box temperature affects clutch size, incubation initiation, and nestling health in great tits

Prenatal maternal effects can be a source of phenotypic plasticity and may play a role in adaptation to climate change. However, we do not know how far temperature could influence such effects, if at all. We studied the influence of temperature during egg laying on maternal reproductive investment and on the phenotype of adult females, adult males, and nestlings. We expected temperature to have an effect, as it influences maintenance costs for females, who can also use it as a cue of the advancement of the breeding season. We experimentally increased night-time nest-box temperatures by approximately 1 °C throughout the entire laying period in great tits (Parus major). Clutch size was negatively correlated with laying date in heated females. Heated females did not delay incubation after clutch completion as frequently as control females did. Finally, blood sedimentation rate, which is an indicator of acute infections and inflammatory diseases, was positively correlated with hatching date in control broods. This suggests that nestlings were of lower quality in late-hatched broods than in early-hatched broods. This seasonal effect was not detected in heated nests. Our results show that a small increase in temperature during laying can influence breeding strategy and nestling characteristics. These results suggest that birds used temperature as a cue of seasonal advancement to adjust breeding phenology, with beneficial effects on nestling health. To better understand the consequences of maternal adjustments during egg laying, it would be interesting to combine studies with heating treatment during different periods of the breeding cycle.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

Data from: Limited consequences of infestation with a blood-feeding ectoparasite for the nestlings of two North Pacific seabirds

The seabird tick (Ixodes uriae) parasitizes over 60 host species in the circumpolar regions of both hemispheres, and acts as a vector for a number of potentially virulent pathogens. On Triangle Island, British Columbia, Canada, the nestlings of Cassin's Auklet (Ptychoramphus aleuticus) and Rhinoceros Auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata) are often parasitized by seabird ticks, which may affect their growth and survival in the nest. We used a logistic growth model to interpolate between successive measures of mass (g) and wing chord (mm) for 558 Cassin's Auklet and 344 Rhinoceros Auklet chicks over 11 years from 1996 to 2007. From the model, we estimated the asymptotic measure and the age at inflection point for each chick's growth trajectory, and assessed the effect of tick load relative to other sources of annual and seasonal variation in growth. Most chicks (72.4% of Cassin's Auklets, and 62.2% of Rhinoceros Auklets) hosted ≥1 ticks at least once while in the nest, and the median tick load was two in both species. The probability of hosting a tick declined strongly with chick age, such that by day 40 after hatching less than 1% hosted ticks. We found evidence that tick load had a negative effect on asymptotic weights and wing lengths of both species, but the effect was minor relative to that of other sources of annual and seasonal variation. Only at very high loads – which were rare – did ticks have effects on growth that were likely to be biologically relevant. Tick load had little effect on survival to fledging in either species.We argue that these mild effects of ticks on their hosts are consistent with a co-evolutionary process that results in intermediate virulence when parasite transmission is linked to host recovery.

opencc-zeroOct 2019View details →

Data from: Proximity to roads, but not exposure to metal pollution, is associated with accelerated developmental telomere shortening in nestling great tits

Comprehensively understanding the factors affecting physiology and fitness in urban wildlife requires concurrently considering multiple stressors. To this end, we simultaneously assessed how metal pollution and proximity to roads affect body condition and telomere shortening between days 8 and 15 of age in nestling great tits (Parus major), a common urban bird. We employed a repeated-measures sampling design to compare telomere shortening and body condition between nestlings from four urban study sites south of Antwerp, Belgium, which are located at different distances from a metal pollution point source. In addition, we explored associations between metal exposure and telomere dynamics on the individual level by measuring blood concentrations of five metals/metalloids, of which lead, copper and zinc were present at concentrations about the limit of detection. To assess whether roadway-associated stressors (e.g. noise and air pollution) might affect nestling condition and telomere shortening, we measured the proximity of nest boxes to roads. Metal exposure was not associated with nestling telomere length or body condition, despite elevated blood lead concentrations close to a metal pollution source (mean ± SE = 0.270 ± 0.095 µg/g wet weight at the most polluted study site), suggesting that nestlings may have some capacity to detoxify metals. However, nestlings from nest boxes near roads exhibited more telomere shortening between days 8 and 15 of age, and shorter telomeres at day 15. Nestlings in poorer condition also had shorter telomeres, but proximity to the road was unrelated to body condition. Thus, nutritional stress is unlikely to mediate the relationship between proximity to roads and telomere length. Rather, proximity to roads could have affected telomere shortening by exposing nestlings to air or noise pollution. Our study highlights that traffic-related pollution, which is implicated in human health problems, might also affect urban wildlife.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2023View details →

Telomere lengths of great tit nestlings in Latvia (2018-2019)

This study deals with telomere lengths of 15-day-old great tit nestlings in two habitats: an old-growth mature unmanaged coniferous forest and a young-managed coniferous forest in 2018 in SE Latvia. Survival of nestlings at day 15 also was measured.

opencc-zeroMar 2024View details →

Digital records of Brown-headed Cowbirds removing eggs and nestlings from nests of grassland passerine birds in southwest Wisconsin

We present digital recordings from video surveillance systems at nests of grassland birds. Video surveillance systems were used as part of grassland bird studies done in southwestern Wisconsin. Study sites were clustered near Mt. Horeb (43.0167°N, 89.7500°W). Four grassy field types were studied: continuously-grazed pasture, prairie, and cool- and warm-season grass fields. The digital recordings archived here were used to document egg and nestling destruction by the Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater).

opencc-by-4.0Oct 2024View details →

Dataset on the content of Cu, Ni Cd, Pb, Zn, Ag, Mg, Fe, Co and Ca in the carcass, gastrointestinal tract tissues and the whole body of nestlings of a small passerine bird, the Eurasian Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus

The data include the description of the age and the concentrations of Cu, Ni Cd, Pb, Zn, Ag, Mg, Fe, Co and Ca measured in the isolated, emptied gastrointestinal tract, the whole body, and carcass of the each individual nestling of a different age and hence a different stage of post-natal development. The dataset includes also some additional information on the breeding biology of the focal species.

Figure 2. A in First description of the nest, eggs, and nestlings of White-tufted Sunbeam (Aglaeactis castelnaudii) and incubation behaviours of Shining Sunbeam (A. cupripennis) in the southeast of Peru

Figure 2. A. castelnaudii (a) nest (Photo: D. Ocampo); (b) egg; and (c) nestling at Abra Malaga Cusco- Machu Picchu road (Photos: H. Greeney).

Figure 1 in First description of the nest, eggs, and nestlings of White-tufted Sunbeam (Aglaeactis castelnaudii) and incubation behaviours of Shining Sunbeam (A. cupripennis) in the southeast of Peru

Figure 1. Habitat used by A. castelnaudii in Abra Malaga, along the Cusco-Machu Picchu road with some patches of Polylepis forest (a), mixed with open areas and fragments of shrubs and mid-height trees belonging principally to the families Ericaceae and Asteraceae (b), at the southeastern Peruvian Andes.

Figure 3 in First description of the nest, eggs, and nestlings of White-tufted Sunbeam (Aglaeactis castelnaudii) and incubation behaviours of Shining Sunbeam (A. cupripennis) in the southeast of Peru

Figure 3. Nest, eggs, and incubation behavior of A. cupripennis for 10 days early in the incubation period (a) female incubating on the nest (Photo: D. Ocampo), showing the temperature sensor cord inserted through the nest indicated by the white arrow; (b) eggs (Photo: G. Londoño); (c) daily count of trips off the nest; and (d) duration of the trips. Notice that days 2 and 8 (brown background) had the highest values of number of trips and the shortest average trip duration which might be a different incubation strategy compared to the other days of monitoring.

Figure 4. Incubation pattern data for A in First description of the nest, eggs, and nestlings of White-tufted Sunbeam (Aglaeactis castelnaudii) and incubation behaviours of Shining Sunbeam (A. cupripennis) in the southeast of Peru

Figure 4. Incubation pattern data for A. cupripennis. (a) Nest and ambient temperatures variation during 10 days of the incubation period; (b) nest and ambient temperature during a daily cycle, with the nest temperature fluctuation reflecting trips off the nest (day 3), hummingbird illustration by Camila León; and (c) box-diagram showing the relationships (lm *P <0.05) between different variables involved in maintaining the nest temperature.

opencc-zeroJan 2022View details →

Spatiotemporal variation in hatching success and nestling sex ratios track rapid movement of a songbird hybrid zone

Hybridization often occurs at the parapatric range interface between closely related species, but fitness outcomes vary: hybrid offspring exhibit diverse rates of viability and reproduction when compared to their parental species. The mobile hybrid zone between two chickadee congeners ( Poecile atricapillus x P. carolinensis ) has been well studied behaviorally and genetically but the viability of hybrids, as well as the underlying mechanisms contributing to hybrid fitness, have remained unclear. To better characterize the fitness costs of hybridization in this system, we analyzed 21 years of data from four sites, including over 1,400 breeding attempts by the two species, to show that rates of hatching success changed substantially as the zone of hybridization moved across the landscape. Admixture-associated declines in hatching success correlated with reduced proportions of heterogametic (female) offspring as predicted by Haldane's rule. Our data support an underlying mechanism implicating genetic admixture of the homogametic (male) parent as the primary determinant of offspring sex ratio, via incompatibilities on the hemizygous Z chromosome. Our long-term study is the first to directly measure changes in fitness costs as a vertebrate hybrid zone moves, and it shows that changes in these costs are a way to track the distribution of a hybrid zone across the landscape.

opencc-by-4.0Jul 2022View details →

Video S6. Male feeding 13-day-old nestling

Video S6. Male feeding chick at 13 days. Adult’s esophageal bolus visible. Portions of bolus brought into throat which bulges, adult gapes several times before “pumping” insects into nestling. Semiplumes have erupted over most of the nestling’s body (3 August 2021, 19:07:20 hr). 26.3 MB, .mp4 file, VLC Media Player.

opencc-by-4.0Jul 2022View details →

Video S8. Nestling wing exercises

Video S8. Nestling wing exercises. At age 50 days, the nestling moved to the rocks below the nest to exercise wings and crawled back to nest. Intermittently flapped and rested wings (9 September 2021, 17:43:40 hr). 35.0 MB, .mp4 file, VLC Media Player.

opencc-by-4.0Jul 2022View details →

Video S7. Nestling wing exercises

Video S7. Nestling wing exercises. At age 24 days, nestling faces back of nest and intermittently flaps and rests outstretched wings (14 August 2021, 18:11:05 hr). 16.5 MB, .mp4 file, VLC Media Player.

opencc-by-nc-4.0Jul 2021View details →

Figure 12. Two adults feeding a nestling with dragonflies, 8 December 2003 in Breeding behavior, distribution, and conservation of the Sharp-tailed Tyrant Culicivora caudacuta (Vieillot, 1818) (Aves: Tyrannidae), a South American grassland specialist

Figure 12. Two adults feeding a nestling with dragonflies, 8 December 2003. Photo: RSS.

opennotspecifiedMay 2024View details →

Figure 4. Ochre-breasted pipit nestlings with about 6 in Breeding biology of the Ochre-breasted pipit (Anthus nattereri), with notes on its conservation in the Upper Rio Grande Grasslands, south-eastern Brazil

Figure 4. Ochre-breasted pipit nestlings with about 6 (a) and 11 (b) days of life, as photographed in nest #3. Nest found in a grassland in São João del-Rei, south-eastern Brazil, in October 2016. Photos: VTL.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: Great spotted cuckoo nestlings have no antipredatory effect on magpie or carrion crow host nests in southern Spain

Host defences against cuckoo parasitism and cuckoo trickeries to overcome them are a classic example of antagonistic coevolution. Recently it has been reported that this relationship may turn to be mutualistic in the case of the carrion crow (Corvus corone) and its brood parasite, the great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius), given that experimentally and naturally parasitized nests were depredated at a lower rate than non-parasitized nests. This result was interpreted as a consequence of the antipredatory properties of a fetid cloacal secretion produced by cuckoo nestlings, which presumably deters predators from parasitized host nests. This potential defensive mechanism would therefore explain the detected higher fledgling success of parasitized nests during breeding seasons with high predation risk. Here, in a different study population, we explored the expected benefits in terms of reduced nest predation in naturally and experimentally parasitized nests of two different host species, carrion crows and magpies (Pica pica). During the incubation phase non-parasitized nests were depredated more frequently than parasitized nests. However, during the nestling phase, parasitized nests were not depredated at a lower rate than non-parasitized nests, neither in magpie nor in carrion crow nests, and experimental translocation of great spotted cuckoo hatchlings did not reveal causal effects between parasitism state and predation rate of host nests. Therefore, our results do not fit expectations and, thus, do not support the fascinating possibility that great spotted cuckoo nestlings could have an antipredatory effect for host nestlings, at least in our study area. We also discuss different possibilities that may conciliate these with previous results, but also several alternative explanations, including the lack of generalizability of the previously documented mutualistic association.

opencc-zeroFeb 2020View details →

Contrasting sensitivity of nestling and fledgling Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica body mass to local weather conditions

Local weather can influence the growth and development of young birds, either indirectly, by modifying prey availability, or directly, by affecting energetic trade‐offs. Such effects can have lasting implications for life history traits, but the nature of these effects may vary with the developmental stage of the birds, and over timescales from days to weeks. We examined the interactive effects of temperature, rainfall and wind speed on the mass of nestling and fledgling Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica, both on the day of capture and averaging weather across the time since hatching. At the daily timescale, nestling mass was negatively correlated with temperature, but the strength of this association depended on the level of rainfall and wind speed; nestlings were typically heavier on dry or windy days, and the negative effect of temperature was strongest under calm or wet conditions. At the early lifetime timescale (i.e. from hatching to post‐fledging), nestling mass was negatively correlated with temperature at low wind speed. Fledgling body mass was less sensitive to weather; the only weather effects evident were a negative correlation with temperature at the daily scale under high rainfall that became slightly positive under low rainfall. These changes are consistent with weather effects on availability and distribution of insects within the landscape (e.g. causing high concentrations of flying insects), and with the effects of weather variation on nest microclimate. These results together demonstrate the impacts of weather on chick growth, over immediate (daily) and longer term (nestling/fledgling lifetime) timescales. This shows that sensitivity to local weather conditions varies across the early lifetime of young birds (nestling‐fledgling stages) and illustrates the mechanisms by which larger scale (climate) variations influence the body condition of individuals.

opennotspecifiedFeb 2021View details →

Figure 5. Nestling feeding behaviour during the 15 in Nesting biology of Green-and-gold tanager (Tangara schrankii): unique traits for lowland reproductive success?

Figure 5. Nestling feeding behaviour during the 15-day nestling period, based on six nests monitored for a total of 30 days. (a) Hourly and (b) daily feeding trips.