Ornithology Commons^™

An Ecological And Physiological Assessment Of Feather Mite-Bird Symbioses, Kevin James Krajcir

Student Theses and Dissertations

Feather mites are ectosymbiotic arthropods that reside primarily on the wing and tail feathers of most birds. Despite our growing understanding of feather mite biology, previous studies of the nature of the feather mite-avian host relationship report mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism. Such inconsistencies are likely due to narrow study designs that fail to capture the possibility of context dependency in this interaction. To provide some clarity surrounding the nature of this symbiotic system, we explored how geographical, climatic, and ecological contexts relate to variation in feather mite abundance and how that abundance, consequently, associates with multiple metrics of host condition …

Foraging Habitat Selection Of Shrubland Bird Community In Tropical Dry Forest, Anant Deshwal, Steven L. Stephenson, Pooja Panwar, Brett A. Degregorio, Ragupathy Kannan, John D. Willson

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Habitat loss due to increasing anthropogenic disturbance is the major driver for bird population declines across the globe. Within the Eastern Ghats of India, shrubland bird communities are threatened by shrinking of suitable habitats due to increased anthropogenic disturbance and climate change. The development of an effective habitat management strategy is hampered by the absence of data for this bird community. To address this knowledge gap, we examined foraging sites for 14 shrubland bird species, including three declining species, in three study areas representing the shrubland type of forest community in the Eastern Ghats. We recorded microhabitat features within an …

Kentucky Warbler (Vol. 98, No.3), Department Of Library Special Collections

The Kentucky Warbler

No abstract provided.

Recruitment, Cost Indexes, And Management Of Box-Nesting Wood Ducks In South Carolina And North Carolina, Emily Miller

All Theses

The wood duck (Aix sponsa) has experienced one of the most significant declines and recoveries among species of North American waterfowl (Anatidae). With enactment of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (1918) and installation of hundreds of thousands of artificial nest structures for this cavity-nesting species in North America, wood duck populations have recovered and remain a sustainable harvested resource. However, long-term research on box-nesting wood ducks conducted at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Aiken, South Carolina, has revealed uncertainty as to whether recruitment rates of yearling females from natal box-nesting populations are self-sustaining without immigration of hens from …

Histomonosis In Turkeys – Factors Influencing Transmission, Pathogenesis, And The Search For Prophylactic Or Therapeutic Compounds, Thainá Landim De Barros

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The incidence of histomonosis has been increasing in poultry since the ban of prophylactic and therapeutic compounds. Histomonosis is caused by the protozoa Histomonas meleagridis. The objective of this dissertation was to investigate factors impacting the pathogenesis and transmission of histomonosis and to evaluate compounds that could potentially prevent or reduce the severity of histomonosis in turkeys. In the first study, the effect of sodium chlorate and sodium nitrate on reducing histomonads growth was tested in vitro and added to a basal turkey diet. A decrease in the growth of histomonads in vitro was observed, but no in vivo effect …

The Role Of Nest Location On The Reproductive Success Of Piping Plovers Breeding At Rockaway Beach, New York, Clara I.D. Arndtsen

Theses and Dissertations

The study’s goal was to learn what aspects of the piping plover experience affect reproductive outcomes at Rockaway Beach Endangered Species Nesting Area. Nest location was found to help predict reproductive success. Nests further from American oystercatcher nests were likely to fledge more chicks. Reproductive success was low in 2021.

Effects Of Soil Shrink-Swell On Bird Bones: An Experimental Taphonomy Pilot Study, Frank J. Dirrigl Jr., Adriana Diaz, Reyna Chavez

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

The soil burial context of a bird bone assemblage is affected by many different taphonomic factors. In this pilot study, we examined the potential effects of soil shrink-swell on white-tailed dove (Zenaida asiatica) bones experimentally buried in three soils of different clay contents. We predicted that bones buried in high clay soils would experience the most damage from soil shrink-swell. Dove wing and leg bones were buried and exposed to 60 days and eight episodes of cyclic soil shrink-swell. We recovered all bones (humeri, ulnae, radii, femora, and tibiotarsi) and found 77.1% of them to exhibit damage. …

A Method For Estimating Songbird Abundance With Drones, Andrew M. Wilson, Darren Glass, Marisa A. Immordino, Precious S. Ozoh, Lauren Sherman, Mckenzie D. Somers

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Using drones to conduct airborne bioacoustics surveys is a potentially useful new way to estimate the abundance of vocal bird species. Here we show that by using two audio recorders suspended from a quadcopter drone it is possible to estimate distances to birds with precision. In an experimental test, the mean error of our estimated distances to a broadcast song across 11 points between 0 and 100 m away was just 3.47 m. In field tests, we compared 1 min airborne counts with 5 min terrestrial counts at 34 count locations. We found that the airborne counts yielded similar data …

Insights Into The Speciation Process From Genomic And Phenotypic Analysis Of An Avian Hybrid Zone In Amazonia, Glaucia Christina Del-Rio

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Understanding the outcome of secondary contact is essential to shed light on the mechanisms governing species formation and maintenance. In Amazonia, closely related bird taxa with limited dispersal abilities are often separated by rivers, which presumably act as dispersal barriers. However, at the headwaters, rivers cease to be dispersal barriers, and this generates opportunities for secondary contact. In my dissertation, I studied genomic mechanisms associated with phenotypic differences, mitochondrial DNA structure, and putative reproductive barriers between two hybridizing Amazonian bird species in the genus Rhegmatorhina, a group of antbirds that find their arthropod prey exclusively by following army-ant swarms. …

Breeding Ecology Of Mottled Ducks In Southwestern Louisiana, Elizabeth Sophia Bonczek

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Mottled ducks are a resident species found in the southern United States that rely on coastal marsh and associated habitat to fulfill the needs of the entirety of their annual cycle. Population monitoring has revealed declines in western Gulf Coast (WGC) mottled ducks since 2008. Mottled duck populations are influenced by survival and recruitment, and changes in these factors may contribute to population declines. The overarching goal of this project was to identify the mechanisms potentially limiting WGC mottled ducks.

I captured adult female mottled ducks during molt on Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge and adjacent lands in southwestern Louisiana from 2017–2019. …

Wpa News 118 (2022), World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Newsletters

WPA News (Summer 2022), number 118

Published by the World Pheasant Association

Two New Late Quaternary Avifaunas From The East-Central Great Basin With The Description Of A New Species Of Falco, Steven D. Emslie, Jim I. Mead

Western North American Naturalist

We report 2 new late Quaternary avifaunas from cave deposits in Snake Valley, White Pine County, eastern Nevada, that provide new records of extinct and extant species in the east-central Great Basin. These avifaunas collectively represent at least 24 species, including the most northern inland record of California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus) in western North America and a new species of kestrel (Falco sp.) described herein. Two extralimital living species also were identified—the Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) and Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus)—and are the first fossil records of these species in the Great Basin. …

Maternal Responses In The Face Of Infection Risk, Patricia C. Lopes, Brenna M. G. Gormally, Aubrey Emmi, Delilah Schuerman, Chathuni Liyanage, Ursula K. Beattie, L. Michael Romero

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

When animals are sick, their physiology and behavior change in ways that can impact their offspring. Research is emerging showing that infection risk alone can also modify the physiology and behavior of healthy animals. If physiological responses to environments with high infection risk take place during reproduction, it is possible that they lead to maternal effects. Understanding whether and how high infection risk triggers maternal effects is important to elucidate how the impacts of infectious agents extend beyond infected individuals and how, in this way, they are even stronger evolutionary forces than already considered. Here, to evaluate the effects of …

Subscription And Organization Information (June 2022)

Nebraska Bird Review

The Nebraska Bird Review is published quarterly by the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union, Inc., as its official journal, and is sent to members not in arrears of dues. Annual subscription rates (on a calendar-year basis only): $25 in the United States and $35 in all other countries, payable in advance. Single copies are $7 each, postpaid, in the United States and $9 elsewhere. Send orders for back issues to Anita Breckbill, NOU Librarian, c/o Music Library, WMB 30, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0101 (or at the email address listed below). Memberships in the NOU (on a calendar-year basis only): Active …

Remembering Lanny Randolph, William Flack

Nebraska Bird Review

Nebraska's birding community suffered a great loss on June 17, 2022, with the death of Lanny Randolph, an enthusiastic birder and a good friend to all of us. ... Lanny ... resolutely continued birding. In May 2022, he was able to attend the NOU meeting in Gering, and to see many of his longtime friends for the first time since the COVID pandemic. But a month later, on June 17, he was taken from us. Lanny's no longer physically present among us. But for those of us who knew him, he'll always be there in our memories, an invisible presence …

Spring Field Report, March-May 2022, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

This spring there was a large number of interesting reports generated by active field observers, particularly in the west, where our knowledge continues to be broadened in all aspects. The main takeaway this spring was the inordinate plethora of species that matched or exceeded early arrival dates listed in BONO. There were no fewer than 70 species in this category, involving most families and genera, suggesting some overall influence on migration timing. Perhaps exceptions to these early arrivals were some lingering waterfowl and gulls although terns arrived early. Fully 50 of the early arrivers were passerines, notably including nine species …

Remembering Rosalind Morris

Nebraska Bird Review

Longtime NOU member Mary Rosalind Morris passed away in Lincoln on March 26, 2022, at the age of 101. ... Her membership in the NOU spanned decades, and she held the offices of vice president (1960), president (1975), librarian (1988-1989) and NBR editor (1992-1997). She was also a member of the Friends of Wilderness Park, Lincoln Naturalist Club, Wachiska Audubon, and the Nature Conservancy. For many years while on walks with her dog she picked up litter in Lincoln parks and on campus and received several environmental stewardship awards for her efforts. She is remembered by those who knew her …

Nou Spring Field Days And Annual Meeting, Gering, May 20-22, 2022, Janis Paseka

Nebraska Bird Review

The NOU Annual Meeting and Spring Field Days, organized by Kathy DeLara, Robin Harding, Jan Johnson, Alice Kenitz and Ruthie Stearns, was held in Gering on May 20-22, 2022, with 64 in attendance. This was the first time the organization had been able to get together since the meeting in Imperial in September of 2019. Our spring and fall meetings in 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our meetings and meals took place in the Gering Civic Center. The weekend weather varied from cool and sunny to windy, snowy, or rainy, but the total species list …

Rare Dark American Kestrel – Melanistic Or Sooty?, Joseph A. Gubanyi, Joel Rathe, Camden Sesna

Nebraska Bird Review

On April 13 in Seward County, we noticed a dark bird flying relatively low over fields east of Seward near 224th and Bluff Rd. Initially, because of its size, dark coloration and pointed wingtips, we were unsure of its identification and followed the bird to get better looks and identify it. We were able to observe and photograph the bird perched (Figure 1). We also observed the bird hovering and diving to the ground multiple times in search of prey. After better looks, based on size, wing shape, hooked beak, claws, and behavior (repeated hovering over field), we concluded the …

The Nebraska Bird Review Volume 90 Number 2, June 2022

Nebraska Bird Review

Spring Field Report, March - May 2022, by W. Ross Silcock ….46

Rare Dark American Kestrel – Melanistic or Sooty?, by Joseph Gubanyi, Joel Rathe, Camden Sesna …. 71

Remembering Rosalind Morris …. 76

Remembering Lanny Randolph by William Flack … 77

NOU Spring field Days and Annual Meeting in Gering, May 20-22, 2022 ….78

Subscription and Organization Information …. 87

Female Presence Does Not Increase Testosterone But Still Ameliorates Sickness Behaviours In Male Japanese Quail, Brenna M. G. Gormally, Kaelyn Bridgette, Aubrey Emmi, Delilah Schuerman, Patricia C. Lopes

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Infections can dramatically modify animal behaviour. The extent of these changes depends on an animal's environment. It has been proposed that testosterone modulates the suppression of behavioural symptoms of sickness under certain reproductive contexts. To further understand the role played by testosterone in modulating sickness behaviours under reproductive contexts, we studied a species, the Japanese quail, in which female exposure rapidly decreases circulating testosterone in males. Males received either an immune challenge (lipopolysaccharide – LPS) or a control injection and their behaviours, mass change and testosterone levels were quantified in the presence or absence of a female. Both the presence …

Bird Nesting Trends In Massachusetts, Dieter Rodriguez

Biology Student Scholarship

Bird nesting data has long been documented for various species across the United States. While trends between temperature changes or precipitation on bird nesting have been studied for particular species, studies done on the effects of temperature due to climate change on bird nesting on the broader state level are lacking. Using bird nesting data and average annual temperature data for Massachusetts collected over a ten year period, I assessed the effects of temperature changes over time on bird nesting attempts and total eggs laid for all documented species within the state. BIO 340 final project

A Review Of Current Methods In Avian Dietary Analysis And Their Integrated Application To Characterize The Trophic Niche Of Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia Motacilla)., Brandon Hoenig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Characterizing a species’ dietary composition presents an avenue to understand many facets of its ecological niche and can provide essential information for the species’ long-term conservation. To date, the vast majority of diet studies have relied on direct identification of prey during foraging observations or from diet samples to characterize the dietary habits of birds. However, advancements in laboratory-based approaches have revolutionized the field of trophic ecology by allowing researchers to indirectly infer dietary habits with higher resolution across greater time scales. Here, I apply two of these laboratory-based techniques, namely DNA metabarcoding and stable isotope analysis, to characterize the …

Nesting Ecology Of Wood Ducks And Other Cavity-Nesting Ducks In Mississippi, Justin Taylor Gibson

Theses and Dissertations

Man-made nest boxes are surrogate nest sites widely used by waterfowl managers in North America to propagate free-ranging Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) and other cavity-nesting waterfowl. I monitored 129 and 174 nest boxes in 2020 and 2021, respectively, at Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge and York Woods, Mississippi. I evaluated site-specific biotic and abiotic factors that were potentially influential on nest survival of Wood Ducks and general nesting ecology and apparent nest success of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (Dendrocygna autumnalis) and Hooded Mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus). Daily survival rate of Wood Ducks was negatively influenced by increasing encroaching vegetation at Noxubee NWR and …

Using Color To Identify Neotropical Parrots In Early Modern European Art: Recognizing Limitations And Avoiding Pitfalls Through Integration Of Scientific And Artistic Knowledge, Deniz Martinez

The Confluence

Colorful Neotropical parrots were amongst the first and most frequent exotic animals to be imported by Europeans from the “New World” of the Americas, becoming key figures in what would become known as the Columbian exchange. There has been an ongoing effort to locate and identify images of Neotropical parrots in the visual record of early modern Europe, with the classification of many remaining unsettled in the scholarship. Proper identification of these images can be valuable data for reconstructing historical biogeography and transatlantic trade; especially compelling is the potential of certain “mystery parrots” in the visual record to support the …

Kentucky Warbler (Vol. 98, No. 2), Department Of Library Special Collections

The Kentucky Warbler

No abstract provided.

Sex Ratios And The City: Is Parental Corticosterone A Mediator Of The Relationship Between Urbanization And Offspring Sex Allocation?, Denyelle Kilgour

Master of Science in Integrative Biology Theses

The Trivers-Willard hypothesis states that mothers can adjust their offspring sex ratios according to their own condition and the environmental conditions they face during breeding. Past tests of this hypothesis in avian species have focused on how natural variation shapes sex allocation trade-offs. However, urbanization also influences individual condition and presents animals with novel challenges in optimizing their brood sex ratio. One likely mediator of the relationship between environmental conditions, parental condition, and sex ratios is corticosterone (CORT), the primary glucocorticoid in birds. However, no research has examined the links between urbanization, individual condition, CORT, and adaptive sex allocation within …

Wpa News 117 (2022), World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Newsletters

WPA News (Spring 2022), number 117

Published by the World Pheasant Association

Leveraging Land Easements For Grassland Bird Habitat Conservation, Amy N. Marigliano, Hayden E. Dubniczki, Sarah W. Westrick

Student Publications

In addressing the decline of North American grassland bird populations, it is important to consider the various interdisciplinary approaches that can be employed in their conservation. OECMs, or “other effective area-based conservation measures” encompass a wide array of strategies which can be leveraged to conserve natural landscapes and species. Land easements implemented by the Land Conservancy of Adams County (LCAC) are an example of one such strategy. The LCAC seeks primarily to preserve the rural character of Adams County but has more recently turned their focus toward environmental conservation. In partnering with the Land Conservancy, this case study aimed to …

Sacred Scavengers: Vulture Conservation In Nepal, Hans Nedde

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the 1990s, a veterinary drug used to treat pain and disease in cattle nearly brought the nine vulture species of Nepal to extinction. In a span of 15 years, over 97% of vultures in Nepal perished. For the past 20 years, governments, organizations, and communities have been working together to save these vital scavengers from vanishing. From the lowlands to the Himalayas, vultures have been interacting with the environment and humans for millennia. This study explores the role that vultures play both ecologically and culturally in Nepal. It investigates vultures as a crucial ecological influence and how human action …