Data and analysis code for Norton and DuVal - Causes and consequences of nest site fidelity in a tropical lekking bird: win-stay-lose-shift tactics are unrelated to subsequent success, but site-faithful females nest earlier

Nest site selection influences the survival of care-giving parents and their offspring, but search costs and site availability may limit site choices. Returning to previous nest sites may reduce costs and allow parents to better avoid local predators or access familiar resources. We investigated nest site fidelity in the Lance-tailed Manakin (Chiroxiphia lanceolata), in which long-lived females raise offspring without male assistance, and found that site choices are responsive to past success but do not predict future outcomes. We compared georeferenced nest locations for the same females detected in consecutive years (245 comparisons for 138 females) and females nesting repeatedly within a year (137 comparisons for 97 females). Females were faithful to nesting sites in 13.9% of comparisons across years and 10.2% within years, and were more likely to nest again in the same site if their offspring fledged. When switching sites, females moved farther if their previous nest failed. Nest-si..., We used 19 years of information on the nest locations of individually banded female Lance-tailed Manakins to investigate why females renest at the same sites, and whether this behavior improves female survival or fledging success of the subsequent offspring. Lance-tailed Manakin females often have multiple nests in a single field season. Therefore, we examined effects of site-fidelity across years as well as within a year. When comparing a female’s nests across years, the most temporally adjacent nests were compared (e.g., a female’s final nest in 2010 was compared to her first nest in 2011). For nests in the same year, we used the lay date to determine which nest was active first.
Field methods: Nests were located by visual inspection of understory vegetation whenever a research team was present at the field site (usually March – early June annually). Nests were monitored every 2-4 days to determine dates of laying and hatching, as well as whether offspring successfully fledged. Fledgi..., ,