Birds' nests are occupied by more than just birds: they are an important habitat for a diverse invertebrate fauna, with the nest structure effectively becoming a miniature ecosystem of specialised and generalised nest-dwellers. The conditions that favour the rearing of chicks also produce a favourable physical habitat for arthropods as well as providing a plentiful food supply. Food in the nest takes the form of feathers, discarded food, faeces, skin cells and other exuviae for scavengers as well asliving and more-or-less helpless chicks for parasites. Studies have shown that intra-nidal arthropods, which include both ectoparasitic and free-living species, are a common component of a breeding bird's environment. Indeed, a large nest, such as that of an American kestrel, can harbour over 26,000 individual invertebrates from nearly 100 different species.
展开▼
