Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Estimating Nest Density When Detectability Is Incomplete: Variation In Nest Attendance And Response To Disturbance By Western Meadowlarks, Matthew Giovanni, Max Post Van Der Burg, Lars Anderson, Larkin Powell, Walter H. Schacht, Andrew Tyre

Andrew J Tyre

Researchers commonly model nest density as a function of ecological variables, but nests, like birds, can be undetected while present. In the Nebraska Sandhills in 2007, we used the rope-drag method on previously located Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) nests to model nest-detection error and nest density. Detecting nests by rope dragging (commonly used for nests of grassland birds) is conditional on two primary sources of nest availability, adults attending nests and adults flushing from nests in response to disturbance from the rope, the behavioral cue necessary for nest detection. On the basis of our trials with rope dragging, the probability …