Data were collected in a medium-sized town. During five years 342 nests were found. The densities of breeding pairs varied over this period between 4.5 and 5.9 p/10 ha. The distribution of breeding pairs was uneven throughout the study area. The preferred nest sites were the roadside trees, where 88.9% of the nests were built. The mean onset of egg-laying was 22 April (range 19–26 April). There was a tendency to start breeding earlier in warmer springs. The mean clutch size was 5.07 ± 0.74. There was a positive correlation between clutch size and the date of egg-laying. These data suggest that there was a compromise between the tendency towards earlier breeding and clutch size. In the study area the Greenfinch is a double-brooded species. Unlike other studies it was noted that the average clutch size increased in the second half of the breeding season. The maximum clutch size coincides with the second or replacement clutches. Hatching, fledging and breeding success were lowest when clutch sizes were largest. The nesting success estimated with the Mayfield and the “traditional” method was approximately similar (0.40 and 0.44 respectively). Cats and mustelids were probably the cause of most breeding failures. Corvids were not responsible for nesting failures.
REFERENCES
W. Biaduń
1994. The breeding avifauna of the parks and cemeteries in Lublin (SE Poland). Acta Ornithol. 29: 1–14. Google Scholar
H. Blümel
1983. Der Grünling. Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei. A. Ziemsen Verlag. Wittenberg Lutherstadt. Google Scholar
S. Cramp,
C. M. Perrins
(eds). 1994. The Birds of Western Palearctic. Vol. VIII. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford. Google Scholar
H. Q. P. Crick
,
D. W. Gibbons
,
R. D. Magrath
1993. Seasonal changes in clutch size in British birds. J. Anim. Ecol. 62: 263–273. Google Scholar
S. Czyż
,
S. Królikowski
1990. [Birds breeding in town-centre parks of Częstochowa]. Notatki Ornitol. 31: 35–42. Google Scholar
M. I. Dyer,
J. Pinowski,
B. Pinowska
1977. Population dynamics. In:
J. Pinowski,
S. Kendeigh
(eds). Granivorous birds in ecosystems. Cambridge University Press, London, pp. 53–107. Google Scholar
A. Dyrcz
,
W. Grabiński
,
T. Stawarczyk
,
J. Witkowski
1991. [Birds of Silesia]. Uniwersytet Wrocławski, Wrocław. Google Scholar
J. A. Gil-Delgado
,
M. C. Catalá
1989. El verderon común (Carduelis chloris): población nidificante, tamańo de la puesta y éxito reproductor. Un ejemplo de estudios a largo plazo. Mediterránea Ser. Biol. 11: 121–132. Google Scholar
U. Glutz,
K. Bauer
1997. Handbuch der Vögel Mitteleuropas. 14/II. AULA-Verlag, Wiesbaden. pp. 543–599. Google Scholar
E. von Glück
1983. Nistökologische Sonderung mitteleuropäischer Fringillidenarten im Biotop Streuobstwiese. J. Ornithol. 124: 369–392. Google Scholar
R. Gnielka
1986. Daten zur Brutbiologie des Grünfinken (Carduelis chloris) nach Nestkarten aus dem Bezirk Halle. Beitr. Vogelkd. 4: 235–244. Google Scholar
W. Górski
,
E. Górska
1979. [Quantitative investigations on the breeding avifauna of Poznań and Koszalin in 1972]. Acta Ornithol. 16: 513–533. Google Scholar
W. J. M. Hagemeijer
,
M. J. Blair
1997 (eds). The EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds: Their Distribution and Abundance. T & AD Poyser, London. Google Scholar
L. von Haartman
1969. The nesting habits of Finnish birds. I. Passeriformes. 32. Helsinki- Helsingfors. Google Scholar
R. A. Hinde
1954. The courtship and copulation of the Greenfinch (Chloris chloris). Behaviour 7: 207–232. Google Scholar
D. H. Johnson
1979. Estimating nest success: the Mayfield method and an alternative. Auk 96: 651–661. Google Scholar
H. N. Kluyver
1952. Notes on body weight and time of breeding in the Great tit (Parus major). Ardea 40: 123–141. Google Scholar
Z. Kosiński
2000a.
Carduelis chloris (L., 1758) — dzwoniec. In:
J. Bednorz,
M. Kupczyk,
S. Kuźniak,
A. Winiecki
[Birds of Wielkopolska]. Bogucki Wyd. Nauk., Poznań, pp. 534–538. Google Scholar
Z. Kosiński
2000b. [The breeding biology of the Greenfinch Carduelis chloris in urban habitat — a Krotoszyn case], Ph.D. thesis, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań. Google Scholar
G. Kwiatkowska
1989. [Birds building open nests in multihectare orchards]. Roczn. AR Poznań 208, Ornitol. Stosowana 14: 3–20. Google Scholar
É. Ludvig
,
L. Vanicsek
,
J. Török
,
T. Csörgo
1995. Seasonal variation of clutch size in the European blackbird Turdus merula: a new ultimate explanation. J. Anim. Ecol. 64: 85– 94. Google Scholar
U. Mäck
1998. Populationsbiologie und Raumnutzung der Elster (Pica pica Linnaeus 1758) in einem urbanen Ökosystem — Untersuchungen im Großraum Ulm. Ökol. Vögel 20:1– 215. Google Scholar
H. F. Mayfield
1975. Suggestions for calculating nest success. Wilson Bull. 87: 456–466. Google Scholar
J. Michocki
1967. [Birds of passage, which make open nests and which nest in natural hollows in Siemianice country park]. Roczn. WSR Poznań 38, Ornitol. Stosowana 2: 109–128. Google Scholar
J. Michocki
1974. [Birds making open nests in the village park in Siemianice in the years 1962–1971]. Roczn. AR Poznań 70, Ornitol. Stosowana 7: 117–126. Google Scholar
T. Mizera
1988. [Ecological study on the synanthropic avifauna of the Sołacz district in Poznań]. Acta Zool. Cracov. 31: 3–64. Google Scholar
A. P. Møller
1988. Nest predation and nest site choice in passerine birds in habitat patches of different size: a study of magpies and blackbirds. Oikos 53: 215–221. Google Scholar
D. Mroczkiewicz
1974. [Birds making open nests on trees in the Przybroda experimental orchard]. Roczn. AR Poznań 65, Ornitol. Stosowana 6: 73–82. Google Scholar
E. C. Murphy
1978. Seasonal variation in reproductive output of House Sparrows: the determination of clutch size. Ecology 59: 1189–1199. Google Scholar
M. Orell
,
M. Ojanen
1983. Timing and length of the breeding season of the Great Tit, Parus major, and the Willow Tit, P. montanus, near Oulu, Northern Finland. Ardea 71:183– 198. Google Scholar
J. J. Parysek
1995 (ed.). [Krotoszyn. Nature, man, economy]. Bogucki Wyd. Nauk., Krotoszyn-Poznań. Google Scholar
T. Slagsvold
,
B.-E. Sæther
1979. Time of egg-laying and clutch size variation in the Fieldfare Turdus pilaris. Fauna Norv. Ser. C., Cinclus 2: 53–59. Google Scholar
D. W. Snow
,
H. Mayer-Gross
1967. Farmland as a nesting habitat. Bird Study 14: 43–52. Google Scholar
L. Sokolov
,
V. A. Payevsky
1998. Spring temperatures influence year-to-year variations in the breeding phenology of passerines on the Courish Split, eastern Baltic. Avian Ecol. Behav. 1:22–36. Google Scholar
StatSoft, Inc. (1997). STATISTICA for Windows [Computer program manual]. Tulsa, OK: StatSoft, Inc., 2300 East 14th Street, Tulsa, OK 74104. Google Scholar
A. W. Stokes
1950. Breeding behaviour of the Goldfinch. Wilson Bull. 62: 107–127. Google Scholar
L. TomiałojĆ
1968. [Fundamental methods of the quantitative research of the breeding avifauna on woodcovered areas and in settlements]. Notatki Ornitol. 9: 1–20. Google Scholar
L. Tomiałojć
1970. [Quantitative studies on the synanthropic avifauna of Legnica and its environs]. Acta Ornithol. 12: 293–392 Google Scholar
L. TomiałojĆ
1980. The combined version of the mapping method. In:
H. Oelke
(ed.). Bird Census Work and Nature Conservation. Proc. VI. Int. Con. Bird Census Work. Göttingen: 92–106. Google Scholar
L. P. Uryadova
1998. [Breeding success in some finches (Fringillidae)]. Ornitologiya 28: 192– 198. Google Scholar
E. VanderWerf
1992. Lack's clutch size hypothesis: an examination of the evidence using meta-analysis. Ecology 73: 1699–1705. Google Scholar
L. Vanicsek
,
E. Ludvig
1992. The method of running-averages in the study of breeding parameters: an example of the Blackbirds (Turdus merula). Ornis Hung. 2: 1–10. Google Scholar
T. Wesołowski
1998. Timing and synchronisation of breeding in a Marsh Tit Parus palustris population from a primaeval forest. Ardea 86: 89–100. Google Scholar
T. Wesołowski
,
A. Czapulak
1986. [Breeding biology of Blackbird and Song Thrush in Poland — a preliminary analysis of nest cards]. Notatki Ornitol. 27: 31–60. Google Scholar
