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Full-Text Articles in Ornithology
Consequences Of Homeothermic Capacity Of Nestlings On Parental Care In The European Starling, Larry Clark
Consequences Of Homeothermic Capacity Of Nestlings On Parental Care In The European Starling, Larry Clark
Larry Clark
The homeothermic capacity of chicks varied as a function of brood size, age, and air temperature. Commitment to rooding by parents also varied as a function of brood size, age of the young brooded, and prevailing air temperature. It was experimentally determined that parents altered their brooding commitment in direct response to the achieved mean homeothermic capacity of the brood rather than energy demands of the brood per se. Because larger broods achieved a given level of homeothermic capacity earlier than smaller broods, parents spent less time brooding larger broods. This "freed" time represented an increase in potential foraging time …
Nest Site Selection By The Red-Tailed Tropicbird, Larry Clark, Robert Ricklefs, Ralph Schrieber
Nest Site Selection By The Red-Tailed Tropicbird, Larry Clark, Robert Ricklefs, Ralph Schrieber
Larry Clark
-Red-tailed Tropicbirds (Phaethon rubricauda) nest under shrubs in loosely associated groups on Christmas Island, Central Pacific Ocean. Aggressive interactions among adults at nest sites are high; yet, large areas of superficially similar habitat contain no tropicbird nests at all. We compared physiognomic features of nest sites with those of two sets of randomly generated "nest sites" by discriminant function analysis. Of those variables measured, the number of stems within a nest space and the amount of peripheral cover influenced the tropicbirds' choice of nest sites. Differences among localities existed. Areas where tropicbirds nested had shrubs with few stems and more …