Incubation recess behaviors influence nest survival of Wild Turkeys

In ground nesting upland birds, reproductive activities contribute to elevated predation risk, so females presumably use multiple strategies to ensure nest success. Identification of drivers reducing predation risk have primarily focused on evaluating vegetative conditions at nest sites, but behavioral decisions manifested through movements during incubation may be additional drivers of nest survival. However, our understanding of how movements during incubation impact nest survival is limited for most ground nesting birds.  Using GPS data collected from female Eastern Wild Turkeys (n = 206), we evaluated nest survival as it relates to movement behaviors during incubation, including recess frequency, distance traveled during recesses, and habitat selection during recess movements. We identified 9,361 movements off nests and 6,529 recess events based on approximately 62,065 hours of incubation data, and estimated mean nest attentiveness of 84.0%.  Numbers of recesses taken daily were var...

对于地栖筑巢的高地鸟类而言，繁殖活动会提升其被捕食的风险，因此雌性个体据推测会采用多种策略以保障巢穴的繁殖成功率。以往针对降低被捕食风险影响因素的研究，主要聚焦于评估筑巢位点的植被条件，而孵卵期通过移动行为所体现出的行为决策，或许是影响巢穴存活率的另一类关键因素。然而，对于多数地栖筑巢鸟类而言，学界关于孵卵期移动行为如何影响巢穴存活率的认知仍较为有限。本研究利用采集自206只雌性东部野生火鸡的GPS定位数据，评估了孵卵期移动行为与巢穴存活率的关联，其中移动行为包括离巢频次、离巢移动距离以及离巢移动过程中的生境选择。基于约62065小时的孵卵观测数据，本研究共识别出9361次离巢行为与6529次离巢事件，并估算得到平均巢照看率为84.0%。每日离巢次数呈……