Nest site selection and nesting success of the red- eyed vireo in central pennsylvania

摘要

We compared nest placement and characteristics of nesting habitat used by Red-eyed Vireos (Vireo olivaceous) in deciduous forests of central Pennsylvania during the breeding seasons of 1998 and 1999. Nest patches versus random patches (0.04-ha circular plots centered on nests or random points, respectively) And successful versus unsuccessful nest patches were compared. Vireos selected nest patches in a nonrandom Fashion with respect to vegetative characteristics at two strata: canopy level and ground/shrub level (<1.0 m). Nests were located closer to surrounding trees and were found in areas with greater canopy coverage, less ground Vegetation, and fewer small (0.5-1.0 m in height) stems than random patches.