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The effects of force‐fledging and premature fledging on the survival of nestling songbirds
Author(s) -
Streby Henry M.,
Peterson Sean M.,
Lehman Justin A.,
Kramer Gunnar R.,
Iknayan Kelly J.,
Andersen David E.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
ibis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.933
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1474-919X
pISSN - 0019-1019
DOI - 10.1111/ibi.12051
Subject(s) - fledge , nest (protein structural motif) , warbler , biology , ecology , demography , zoology , predation , habitat , biochemistry , sociology
Despite the broad consensus that force‐fledging of nestling songbirds lowers their probability of survival and therefore should be generally avoided by researchers, that presumption has not been tested. We used radiotelemetry to monitor the survival of fledglings of O venbirds S eiurus aurocapilla and G olden‐winged W arblers V ermivora chrysoptera that we unintentionally force‐fledged (i.e. nestlings left the nest in response to our research activities at typical fledging age), that fledged prematurely (i.e. nestlings left the nest earlier than typical fledging age), and that fledged independently of our activities. Force‐fledged O venbirds experienced significantly higher survival than those that fledged independent of our activities, and prematurely fledged O venbirds had a similarly high survival to those that force‐fledged at typical fledging age. We observed a similar, though not statistically significant, pattern in G olden‐winged W arbler fledgling survival. Our results suggest that investigator‐induced force‐fledging of nestlings, even when deemed premature, does not necessarily result in reduced fledgling survival in these species. Instead, our results suggest that a propensity or ability to fledge in response to disturbance may be a predictor of a higher probability of fledgling survival.