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1 March 2010 Breeding Biology and Nesting Success of the Slate-Throated Whitestart (Myioborus miniatus) in Monteverde, Costa Rica
Ronald L. Mumme
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Abstract

I examined the breeding biology and nesting success of the Slate-throated Whitestart (Myioborus miniatus), a socially monogamous neotropical warbler, for five breeding seasons (2000–2004) in Monteverde, Costa Rica, near the center of its broad geographic range. Nesting was strongly seasonal, extending from late March through the end of June and coinciding with the end of the dry season and the onset of the rainy season in mid-May. Females constructed domed nests on open steep slopes or in banks along roads and trails. Mean clutch size was 2.9 eggs, and the mean incubation period was 14.2 days. Females performed all incubation of eggs and brooding of young nestlings, but both males and females fed nestlings and fledglings. Mean provisioning rate at nests when young were 5–9 days of age was 20.3 feedings/hr, and females fed young at a significantly higher rate than males (11.7 vs. 8.3 feedings/hr, respectively). Nestlings reached mean adult body mass of 9.5 g ∼ day 7–8, and mean age at fledging was 11.3 days. Parents fed juveniles for at least 4 weeks after fledging; the latest record of adults feeding fledged young was for 40-day-old juveniles. Daily nest survival rates showed strong annual variation and generally declined as the nesting season progressed. Mean daily survival rate was 0.968 and estimated overall nest success was 40.3% with a mean of 2.6 young fledging from successful nests. Predation was implicated in ∼85% of nest failures.

Ronald L. Mumme "Breeding Biology and Nesting Success of the Slate-Throated Whitestart (Myioborus miniatus) in Monteverde, Costa Rica," The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 122(1), 29-38, (1 March 2010). https://doi.org/10.1676/09-030.1
Received: 17 February 2009; Accepted: 1 July 2009; Published: 1 March 2010
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