Effects of brood parasitism and nest-box placement on wood duck breeding ecology
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Published source details
Semel B., Sherman P.W. & Byers S.M. (1988) Effects of brood parasitism and nest-box placement on wood duck breeding ecology. The Condor, 90, 920-930.
Published source details Semel B., Sherman P.W. & Byers S.M. (1988) Effects of brood parasitism and nest-box placement on wood duck breeding ecology. The Condor, 90, 920-930.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.
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Provide artificial nesting sites for wildfowl Action Link |
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Provide artificial nesting sites for wildfowl
A replicated study over 12 years between 1976 and 1987 in deciduous woodlands and wetlands in northeast Illinois, USA (Semel et al. 1988) found that successful wood duck Aix sponsa clutches in well-hidden nest boxes had significantly higher hatching success than those in conspicuous boxes (82% hatching success for 28 successful well-hidden nests vs. 74% for 150 successful conspicuous nests), probably due to lower levels of intraspecific brood parasitism (30% of 47 hidden clutches parasitized vs. 50% for 198 conspicuous ones). However, visible nests were more likely to raise at least one duckling (60% of 47 hidden nests successful vs. 76% of 198 conspicuous nests), and hatched more ducklings (7.1 ducklings/successful nest for hidden nests vs. 9.3-9.9 ducklings/nest for conspicuous nests) possibly due to larger clutch sizes caused by brood parasitism (12.4 eggs/clutch for hidden nests vs. 15.7-16.3 eggs/clutch for conspicuous nests).
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