Potential Factors Affecting Nest Initiation Date, Clutch Size and Nest Success in the Plumage Dimorphic Reddish Egret

Holderby, Zachary; Simper, William; Geary, Brock; Green, M. Clay

doi:10.1675/063.035.0308

Cited by 9 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The later nest initiation dates of long-distance migrants in this study are noteworthy but did not appear to influence nest success. This is consistent with findings by Holderby et al (2012) in which they found no difference in Reddish Egret nest success between two colonies that exhibited a 38-day difference in mean nest initiation date; however, this study did not examine within colony differences in initiation. Huysman (1995) examined nest success at two colonies in the lower Laguna Madre and found higher hatching success in Reddish Egret nests that were initiated earlier.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Much of the previous research on Reddish Egrets during the breeding season has focused on nest success. There have been a small number of attempts to examine Reddish Egret nesting ecology in Texas (McMurry 1971, Simersky 1971, Huysman 1995 and a recent study that investigated reproductive success (Holderby et al 2012). In the broader scope of herons, considerable research has been conducted on colony use and productivity, particularly in relation to foraging habitat (e.g., Gibbs 1991, Smith 1995, Tourenq et al 2004, Kelly et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Breeding ecology and habitat use of North America’s rarest Ardeidae: the Reddish Egret Egretta rufescens

Koczur¹,

Ballard²,

Green³

et al. 2018

ACE

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens) remains underrepresented in waterbird research despite its status as the rarest heron in North America and a near-threatened species. The Reddish Egret is also a habitat specialist, and is restricted to shallow, coastal wetlands throughout its range. We utilized GPS-equipped platform terminal transmitters to examine the breeding ecology of Reddish Egrets (n = 28) in Texas. Although individuals exhibited varying degrees of fidelity to specific colonies, there was fidelity to particular areas within the Laguna Madre, Texas, across years. Reddish Egrets also exhibited fidelity to foraging areas across years and selected nonvegetated tidal flats as foraging habitat. Long-distance migrants began the breeding season two weeks later than residents on average; however, the timing of breeding did not appear to influence nest success. We also found that the amount of available foraging habitat within 15 km of the colony was associated with the abundance of Reddish Egret breeding pairs at colonies. Écologie de reproduction et utilisation d'habitat de l'Ardéidé le plus rare d'Amérique du Nord : l'Aigrette roussâtre Egretta rufescensRÉSUMÉ. L'Aigrette roussâtre (Egretta rufescens) demeure sous-représentée dans les recherches sur les oiseaux aquatiques malgré son statut de héron le plus rare d'Amérique du Nord et d'espèce quasi menacée. L'Aigrette roussâtre est aussi une spécialiste d'habitat et fréquente uniquement les milieux humides côtiers peu profonds dans l'ensemble de son aire de répartition. Nous avons utilisé des émetteurs balises équipés de GPS pour examiner l'écologie de reproduction d'Aigrettes roussâtres (n = 28) au Texas. Bien que les individus aient montré un degré de fidélité variable aux colonies elles-mêmes, ils ont été fidèles à des endroits particuliers dans la Laguna Madre, Texas, d'une année à l'autre. Les aigrettes ont aussi été fidèles aux aires d'alimentation au fil des ans, des zones intertidales sans végétation. Les individus migrateurs de longue distance ont commencé leur saison de reproduction deux semaines plus tard que les individus résidents en moyenne; toutefois, la phénologie de nidification n'a pas semblé avoir un effet sur le succès de nidification. Nous avons également observé que la superficie d'aires d'alimentation dans un rayon de 15 km d'une colonie était associée au nombre de couples nicheurs d'Aigrettes roussâtres qui s'y trouvaient.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breeding ecology and habitat use of North America’s rarest Ardeidae: the Reddish Egret Egretta rufescens

Koczur¹,

Ballard²,

Green³

et al. 2018

ACE

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The majority of reddish egrets in Texas breed in low vegetation, particularly Borrichia spp. and Opuntia spp., within the Laguna Madre, so we visited several islands at which previous research on the species has been conducted (Bates et al 2009, Hill et al 2012, Holderby et al 2012, Holderby & Green 2013, Bates & Ballard 2014. We surveyed islands frequently before the capture period to assess reddish egret nesting status.…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to examining movements, we estimated survival in this cohort. Nesting success rates in reddish egret colonies appear to be quite high (> 85%) in the absence of complete colony failure (Holderby et al 2012), but survival rates of juveniles and adults remain unknown, preventing a complete understanding of limiting factors to reddish egret population recovery. Compounding this problem for the species is the low efficiency (32 and 42% success in adults, 25 and 29% success in juveniles in Florida and Texas, respectively) and high energetic cost of its active foraging strategies (frequent 'open-wing' running) relative to other egret species (Rodgers 1983, Lowther & Paul 2002, Green 2005.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Movements and survival of juvenile reddish egrets Egretta rufescens on the Gulf of Mexico coast

Geary

Green²,

Ballard³

2015

Endang. Species. Res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Understanding natal dispersal patterns of animals is critical to development of effective species conservation plans, as it ensures that population management takes place at appropriate scales. The reddish egret Egretta rufescens is a threatened waterbird species lacking documentation on many aspects of its ecology, including movement behaviors at all life stages. We attached satellite transmitters to 25 juvenile reddish egrets on their natal colonies and observed their dispersal patterns and subsequent movements over a period of 115 wk (May 2010-August 2012). Birds exhibited the greatest movement rates in the remainder of the first breeding season (through July 2010, ~10 to 13 wk of age, 11.07 km d −1) and steadily decreased in the post-breeding period (4.87 km d −1) and winter (1.96 km d −1) of their first year. Movements of 1 to 2.5 km d −1 characterized the remainder of the tracking period, suggesting that surviving birds were able to establish local territories. Of the 25 tagged birds, 8 (32%) survived throughout the observation period, based on transmitter failure rates, with losses increasing each winter. The majority of birds remained on the Texas/ Mexico coast of the Gulf of Mexico, indicating that the population is largely resident and therefore vulnerable to coastal habitat alterations in the region. Due to a combination of infrequent long-distance migration, specialized behaviors, and apparent limited gene flow, habitat maintenance should be of primary importance for management of this rare species. This is among the first published studies of heron movement ecology using telemetry, and should be followed by further tracking with developing technologies to characterize high-resolution movements and habitat associations.

show abstract

“…Although phylogenetically widespread (Hugall and Stuart-Fox 2012), colour polymorphism is rare in birds, involving around 3.5% species globally (Galeotti et al 2003). However, amongst Strigidae (owls) and Accipitridae (hawks), it occurs in about 38.5 and 22.1% of the species respectively (Galeotti et al 2003), which makes the study of plumage colour polymorphism of great interest in avian biology, specifically in raptors (Holderby et al 2012). Colour polymorphism is widely considered to serve an adaptive function (Galeotti et al 2003, Roulin 2004, Roulin and Ducrest 2013 and has also been found to influence various key life history and fitness related traits, including survival and reproduction (reviewed by Roulin 2004).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Pair complementarity influences reproductive output in the polymorphic black sparrowhawk Accipiter melanoleucus

Tate

Sumasgutner

Koeslag

et al. 2016

Journal of Avian Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

How multiple morphs are maintained within populations of colour polymorphic bird species remains a challenging question in evolutionary ecology. In some systems, differential productivity or survival between morphs are thought to play a role. Here we examine key demographic parameters between the two discrete adult morphs that characterise the polymorphic black sparrowhawk Accipiter melanoleucus. Using long‐term breeding and survival data from a population on the Cape Peninsula, South Africa, we test for differences in reproductive performance between light and dark morphs, both in isolation and in combination with their partner morph and adult survival between morphs. We found that neither morph had a specific advantage in terms of productivity or survival. Despite this lack of difference between the individual morphs, we did however find that morph combination of adult pairs influenced productivity significantly, with mixed‐pairs producing more offspring per year than pairs consisting of the same morph. The body condition of the offspring showed the opposite relationship, with nestlings of mixed‐pairs having lower body condition than nestlings of like‐pairs. While our results suggest an advantage of mating with the opposite morph, there was no evidence for disassortative mating; instead breeding pair morph combinations were random with respect to the background frequencies of the two morphs. Higher productivity of mixed‐pairs may be the result of the complementary nature of care provided by the different morphs. We propose that differential foraging success between black sparrowhawk morphs under varying light conditions allows mixed‐pairs to expand their foraging niche. We conclude that emergent pair‐level properties may play an important role in promoting and maintaining polymorphism and may be important for other bird species which display bi‐parental care.

show abstract

Potential Factors Affecting Nest Initiation Date, Clutch Size and Nest Success in the Plumage Dimorphic Reddish Egret

Cited by 9 publications

References 27 publications

Breeding ecology and habitat use of North America’s rarest Ardeidae: the Reddish Egret Egretta rufescens

Breeding ecology and habitat use of North America’s rarest Ardeidae: the Reddish Egret Egretta rufescens

Movements and survival of juvenile reddish egrets Egretta rufescens on the Gulf of Mexico coast

Pair complementarity influences reproductive output in the polymorphic black sparrowhawk Accipiter melanoleucus

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Potential Factors Affecting Nest Initiation Date, Clutch Size and Nest Success in the Plumage Dimorphic Reddish Egret

Cited by 9 publications

References 27 publications

Breeding ecology and habitat use of North America&#8217;s rarest Ardeidae: the Reddish Egret Egretta rufescens

Breeding ecology and habitat use of North America&#8217;s rarest Ardeidae: the Reddish Egret Egretta rufescens

Movements and survival of juvenile reddish egrets Egretta rufescens on the Gulf of Mexico coast

Pair complementarity influences reproductive output in the polymorphic black sparrowhawk Accipiter melanoleucus

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Breeding ecology and habitat use of North America’s rarest Ardeidae: the Reddish Egret Egretta rufescens

Breeding ecology and habitat use of North America’s rarest Ardeidae: the Reddish Egret Egretta rufescens