Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Hatching And Fledging Times From Grassland Passerine Nests, Pamela J. Pietz, D.A. Granfors, Todd Grant

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Accurate estimates of fledging age are needed in field studies to avoid inducing premature fledging or missing the fledging event. Both may lead to misinterpretation of nest fate. Correctly assessing nest fate and length of the nestling period can be critical for accurate calculation of nest survival rates. For researchers who mark nestlings, knowing the age at which their activities may cause young to leave nests prematurely could prevent introducing bias to their studies. We estimated fledging ages from grassland passerine nests monitored from hatching through fledging with miniature video cameras in North Dakota and Minnesota during 1996-2001. We compared …