The
work to be conducted in Montana will have four major
components.
1)
Nest-finding and monitoring – the main objective
of the study focuses on finding and monitoring success
of nests of a diversity of species.
2)
Videotaping – we will use video cameras to record
nesting behaviors of focal species.
3)
Vegetation Sampling – extensive surveying and measuring
of the habitat will be conducted to look at the effects
of habitat structure on nest success.
4)
Egg and nestling measurements – a few crew members
will be responsible for measuring accessible nests for
general life history data.
Nest
finding and monitoring
One
of the primary goals of the research being conducted
in Montana is to determine the nest success of the breeding
bird community. One particularly useful way to determine
this is to find nests. Once we find a nest we can determine:
reproductive success, parental care strategies (e.g.
incubation behaviors, nestling feeding rates), clutch
size, egg mass, nestling growth rates, paternity, and
many other traits.
Nest
searchers are assigned study plots on which they focus
their nest-finding attention for the summer. All study
plots are aspen stands. Each nest that is found is checked
every 2 to 4 days to determine if it is still active
(with eggs or young) or if it failed. As transition periods
(i.e. hatching) approach nests are checked every day
to determine exact nesting period lengths. Detailed notes
of nest status at each check are vital. Previous studies
suggest that humans have little influence on predation
probability, but we always want to guard against adding
biases, so great care is to be taken near nests.
Video
monitoring
Parental
care is a very important component of the reproductive
effort of passerine birds. Parental care behaviors such
as mate-feeding (males bring food to incubating females),
nest attentiveness (percentage of time the female sits
on the nest), and nestling feeding are costly behaviors
with important implications to reproductive success.
A particularly useful technique we use to determine the
importance of these behaviors to different species is
to videotape nests.
Vegetation
Sampling
We
will conduct detailed measurements of the vegetation
at nest sites, at systematic sites, and at each aspen
stand to allow documentation of nest habitat selection
and to monitor the effects of habitat structure on nest
success.
Details
and protocols will be provided.
General
Work Schedule
The
general schedule is 12 days on and 2 days off. This schedule
is necessary because of the short period (3 months) in which
nests can be found and monitored. We use federal and state
vehicles to get to field sites. These vehicles are also used
for supply trips to town and for getting to town for our
breaks.
The
general schedule of the field camp begins around first
light (which may be as early as 4am). From dawn until
around noon is spent searching for nests, then time is
spent measuring vegetation at nest sites and random sites
on the study plots. This schedule is often modified over
the course of the season as work priority and seasons
change. In general, fieldwork ends between 12:30 – 2:00
each day.
Following
fieldwork, everyone is expected to spend about an hour
doing paperwork, such as writing up nest records. After
lunch there is usually lots of work to be done on side
projects such as egg and nestling measurements or using
a small camera to look into cavity nests. The remainder
of the day is your own to do as you please.
