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1 November 2000 REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS OF AMERICAN KESTRELS: THE ROLE OF PREY ABUNDANCE AND WEATHER
Russell D. Dawson, Gary R. Bortolotti
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Abstract

We investigated how natural variation in abundance and availability of the main prey of American Kestrels (Falco sparverius), small mammals, influenced provisioning rates by parents, and offspring size and survival. Provisioning behavior of kestrels was not constrained by the abundance of food in the environment; however, the availability of food, mediated through variation in weather, appeared to significantly influence parental provisioning behavior. Moreover, variation in weather had clear effects on reproductive success because nestlings exposed to inclement weather were smaller and lighter at fledging, and less likely to survive to fledging, compared to nestlings raised during good weather conditions. Prey abundance was not related to offspring size or survival. Our results suggest American Kestrels are limited by the availability, as opposed to abundance, of food on territories. It is likely that during our study, prey abundance was above some minimum threshold necessary to support successful reproduction, and so variation in weather affected reproduction more than variation in prey abundance.

Russell D. Dawson and Gary R. Bortolotti "REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS OF AMERICAN KESTRELS: THE ROLE OF PREY ABUNDANCE AND WEATHER," The Condor 102(4), 814-822, (1 November 2000). https://doi.org/10.1650/0010-5422(2000)102[0814:RSOAKT]2.0.CO;2
Received: 27 December 1999; Accepted: 1 July 2000; Published: 1 November 2000
KEYWORDS
American kestrels
Falco sparverius
offspring size
offspring survival
prey abundance
Provisioning
weather
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