Article Abstract:
A study was conducted to examine the body mass of female hooded mergansers that are nesting in highly distributed and newly constructed wooden nest boxes. Results found that the media body mass was 635 g. at the time of egg laying. During incubation, mass differed among years although it dropped monotonically at an identical rate annually. Body mass dropped by 5.7% to 6.0% between the onset and the end of incubation. Females with the biggest body mass were not necessarily the first to start nesting but incubated the largest clutches and hatched the most young.
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Article Abstract:
A study tests the hypothesis that the risk of nest predation in the female hooded warbler species is increased due to the female's male-like coloration. The sexually dimorphic songbirds have different black hoods, which could be non-existent in yearlings or almost totally black in some older female warblers. The nest predation frequency did not change much with the extent of male-like plummage during the various nest stages. Results show that predators do not locate nests by relying on plumage coloration.
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Article Abstract:
A study on avian biology attempted to establish nest attendance patterns of common goldeneyes that inhabit the regions surrounding three lakes in Minnesota. The data, taken from 1982-1985, were derived from 22 nests that were monitored for 545 days. Hens were found to stay longer at the nests and stay overnight more often when incubation time was at hand. The results minimally deviated from M.L. Mallory and P.J. Weatherhead's Ontario research because a different analytical method was used.
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