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1 November 2000 IMPACT OF BROOD PARASITISM ON NEST SURVIVAL PARAMETERS AND SEASONAL FECUNDITY OF SIX SONGBIRD SPECIES IN SOUTHEASTERN OLD-FIELD HABITAT
Maria A. Whitehead, Sara H. Schweitzer, William Post
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Abstract

We monitored 259 nests of six Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) hosts within old-field habitat on James Island, South Carolina during the 1997 and 1998 breeding seasons to determine the effect of parasitism on three nest-survival parameters (clutch size, hatching rate, and number of fledglings). We determined daily predation and parasitism rates, and probability of nest abandonment after parasitism to derive an estimate of seasonal fecundity. Clutch size of parasitized nests was reduced in four host species. Brood parasitism did not affect hatching rate in any species, and reduced the number of fledglings from only Blue Grosbeak (Guiraca caerulea) nests. Despite brood reduction during the nesting cycle, cowbird parasitism had little impact on seasonal fecundity of these host species because of low parasitism intensity, double-brooding behavior, and hosts' ability to raise their own young with cowbird young.

Maria A. Whitehead, Sara H. Schweitzer, and William Post "IMPACT OF BROOD PARASITISM ON NEST SURVIVAL PARAMETERS AND SEASONAL FECUNDITY OF SIX SONGBIRD SPECIES IN SOUTHEASTERN OLD-FIELD HABITAT," The Condor 102(4), 946-950, (1 November 2000). https://doi.org/10.1650/0010-5422(2000)102[0946:IOBPON]2.0.CO;2
Received: 8 November 1999; Accepted: 1 July 2000; Published: 1 November 2000
KEYWORDS
brood parasitism
brown-headed cowbird
Molothrus ater
nest parasitism
old-field habitat
predation
seasonal fecundity
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