Description
Book SynopsisDeclining bird populations, especially those that breed in North American grasslands, have stimulated extensive research on factors that affect nest failure and reduced reproductive success. Until now, this research has been hampered by the difficulties inherent in observing nest activities. Video Surveillance of Nesting Birds highlights the use of miniature video cameras and recording equipment yielding new important and some unanticipated insights into breeding bird biology, including previously undocumented observations of hatching, incubation, fledging, diurnal and nocturnal activity patterns, predator identification, predator-prey interactions, and cause-specific rates of nest loss. This seminal contribution to bird reproductive biology uses tools capable of generating astonishing results with the potential for fresh insights into bird conservation, management, and theory.
Trade Review"This book is an essential reference for ornithologists... It should be added to the ornithological library bookshelf... Highly recommended." -- R.L. Smith, Emeritus, West Virginia University Choice "Really interesting from a range of angles." The Quarterly Review of Biology
Table of ContentsPreface Foreword Part 1. Synthesis/Overview Chapter 1: Knowledge gained from video-monitoring grassland passerine nests Pamela J. Pietz, Diane A. Granfors and Christine A. Ribic Chapter 2: Conservation implications when the nest predators are known Frank R. Thompson, III and Christine A. Ribic Chapter 3: Gamebirds and nest cameras: present and future Susan N. Ellis-Felege and John P. Carroll Part 2: Breeding Behavior Chapter 4: Hatching and fledging information from grassland passerine nests Pamela J. Pietz, Diane A. Granfors and Todd A. Grant Chapter 5: Attendance patterns and survival of Western Meadowlark nests Larkin A. Powell, Matthew D. Giovanni, Scott Groepper, Mitchell L. Reineke and Walter H. Schacht Chapter 6: Sprague's Pipit incubation behavior Stephen K. Davis and Teslin G. Holmes Chapter 7: Patterns of incubation behavior in Northern Bobwhites Jonathan S. Burnam, Gretchen Turner, Susan N. Ellis-Felege, William E. Palmer, D. Clay Sisson and John P. Carroll Chapter 8: The influence of weather on shorebird incubation Paul A. Smith, Sarah A. Dauncey, H. Grant Gilchrist and Mark R. Forbes Chapter 9: Nocturnal activity of nesting shrubland and grassland passerines Christy M. Slay, Kevin S. Ellison, Christine A. Ribic, Kimberly G. Smith and Carolyn M. Schmitz Part 3: Behavioral Responses to Predation/Predator Identification Chapter 10: Bird productivity and nest predation in agricultural grasslands Christine A. Ribic, Michael J. Guzy, Travis J. Anderson, David W. Sample and Jamie L. Nack Chapter 11: Predator identity can explain nest predation patterns Jennifer L. Reidy and Frank Thompson, III Chapter 12: Nest defense: grassland bird responses to snakes Kevin Ellison and Christine A. Ribic Chapter 13: Partial depredations on Northern Bobwhite nests Susan N. Ellis-Felege, Anne Miller, Jonathan S. Burnam, Shane D. Wellendorf, D. Clay Sisson, William E. Palmer and John P. Carroll Chapter 14: Identification of Spragues's Pipit nest predators Stephen K. Davis, Stephanie L. Jones, Kimberly M. Dohms and Teslin G. Holmes Part 4: Technology Chapter 15: Development of camera technology for monitoring nests W. Andrew Cox, M. Shane Pruett, Thomas J. Benson, Scott J. Chiavacci and Frank R. Thompson III
