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Post-fledging habitat use in a declining songbird

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1993 days ago
RT @thePeerJ: Post-fledging habitat use in a declining songbird https://t.co/QUHG8bPCzZ https://t.co/2ElJVLADPb
Post-fledging habitat use in a declining songbird https://t.co/QUHG8bPCzZ https://t.co/2ElJVLADPb
1996 days ago
RT @BehavEcolPapers: Post-fledging habitat use in a declining songbird https://t.co/FGQnhO2tCG @thePeerJ https://t.co/LA7KugZG4A
Post-fledging habitat use in a declining songbird https://t.co/FGQnhO2tCG @thePeerJ https://t.co/LA7KugZG4A
Biodiversity and Conservation

Main article text

 

Introduction

Materials & Methods

Study area

Nest searching and monitoring

Capture, banding, and auxiliary marker attachment

Tracking and observations

Microhabitat sampling

Statistical analysis

Results

Discussion

This study is the first to examine where Cerulean Warbler fledglings disperse once they leave the nest. Based on our research findings, vegetation density is a key factor that determines where adult Cerulean Warblers take their young after leaving the nest. Whether it is on the ground, in the shrub layer, or in the canopy, these birds are favoring areas of greater vegetation density. Of 97 fledgling locations surveyed, 51.5% of the vegetation plots had grapevine. However, only 18.6% of random vegetation surveys had grapevine. Grapevine provides excellent cover, and it is an important habitat component in fledgling habitats, likely because it offers protection from predators. Fledglings, especially when less than one week out of the nest, do not typically move very far, and are not strong fliers. Therefore, staying hidden in thick vegetation is beneficial to their survival. Areas that have high vegetation densities in our study sites include clearcuts, patch-cuts, and riparian areas. Adult Cerulean Warblers have been caught in clearcuts in our study sites during the fledgling period (P Ruhl, pers. comm., 2015), and we have observed adult and fledgling Cerulean Warblers in patch-cuts at our sites. As suggested by other studies, fledgling songbirds may utilize these areas after leaving the nest to avoid predation (Vitz & Rodewald, 2006; Vitz, Rodewald & VegaRivera, 2007; Stoleson, 2013).

Management recommendations

Conclusion

Supplemental Information

Map of seven different fledgling Cerulean Warblers (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10) from different nests

This study site was located in one of our “uneven-aged forests” in Yellowwood State Forest, Brown County, Indiana (May-July 2015-2017). Sources: Esri, DigitalGlobe, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, GeoEye, USDA FSA, USGS, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, and the GIS User Community. (C) ESRI.

DOI: 10.7717/peerj.7358/supp-1

Map of fledgling #2 in an “even-aged forest” in Yellowwood State Forest, Brown County, Indiana (June 2015)

We did not know the nest location where this fledgling came from, but it appeared to be a local fledgling. D1 shows the starting location, and D4 shows where we lost contact with the fledgling. Sources: Esri, DigitalGlobe, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, GeoEye, USDA FSA, USGS, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, and the GIS User Community. (C) ESRI.

DOI: 10.7717/peerj.7358/supp-2

Map of fledgling #9 in a control site in Morgan-Monroe State Forest, Monroe County, Indiana (June-July 2017)

Sources: Esri, DigitalGlobe, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, GeoEye, USDA FSA, USGS, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, and the GIS User Community. (C) ESRI.

DOI: 10.7717/peerj.7358/supp-3

Map of fledgling #5 in a control site in Yellowwood State Forest, Brown County, Indiana (June 2016)

Sources: Esri, DigitalGlobe, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, GeoEye, USDA FSA, USGS, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, and the GIS User Community. (C) ESRI.

DOI: 10.7717/peerj.7358/supp-4

Additional Information and Declarations

Competing Interests

The authors declare there are no competing interests.

Author Contributions

Clayton D. Delancey conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, prepared figures and/or tables, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper.

Kamal Islam conceived and designed the experiments, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, approved the final draft, provided financial support through grants.

Animal Ethics

The following information was supplied relating to ethical approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers):

Ball State University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) to capture and band birds (IACUC approval 437484-4).

Field Study Permissions

The following information was supplied relating to field study approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers):

An Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) state collecting permit and a federal bird banding permit (Permit #21781) issued by the USGS were obtained to capture birds and place auxiliary markers (i.e., radio-transmitters, geolocators, and color bands) on Cerulean Warblers.

Data Availability

The following information was supplied regarding data availability:

Data are available at Figshare:

Delancey, Clayton (2019): Habitat Use by Fledgling Cerulean Warblers. figshare. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8091197.v1.

Funding

This work was supported by an Indiana Department of Natural Resources grant through Purdue University (No. 240117), Indiana Academy of Science (No. 257377), Amos W. Butler Audubon Society (No. 257336), Association of Field Ornithologists (No. 257348), Robert Cooper Audubon Society (No. 257343), and Ball State University ASPiRE grant. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

 
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Did you forget about the 2014-2015 Cerulean Warbler post-fledging study in Pennsylvania (published as a chapter in a master's thesis in 2016 and available online; presented at the North American Ornithological Society meeting in Washington, D.C. in 2016) prior to repeatedly claiming in this article that your study was the first to investigate and first to describe associated habitat characteristic...

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