Abstract
The mortality rate of long-distance migrants is known to peak in the period between fledging and completing the first year of life. Our understanding of this sensitive life stage, however, lags behind our understanding of determinants of nestling success (at least for temperate breeding birds). Here we collect diverse data (morphometrics, phenology, nest videos, radio tracking detections) on two generations of a long-distance migrant (the Purple Martin, Progne subis). We examine multiple life stages, to understand how in-nest conditions may carry over to the post-fledge period. Our data show that an earlier first-egg date is associated with higher parental quality as determined by their tracked movements and provisioning effort. Despite high variability in first-egg date, the duration of the nestling phase was approximately consistent between nests, with fledge-date and date of fledgling departure from the breeding grounds highly constrained by a relatively fixed duration of nestling development. Offspring of early-nesting parents fledged in better body condition, as evidenced by their larger wing chord measurements. Given the fixed nesting duration, this higher parental quality in early nesters led to early-season nestlings having the dual advantage of elevated body condition and early departure dates—two known predictors of first migration survival in this species and many others. Our work illustrates a potential carry-over effect from the nestling phase to fall-migration, and provides a useful example of linking diverse data sets across multiple life stages to extend our knowledge of breeding success to the less-understood post-breeding phase.
Zusammenfassung
Ein früher Nistbeginn überträgt sich auf die Körperkondition von Nestlingen der Purpurschwalbe und den Zeitpunkt ihres Abzugs aus dem Brutgebiet.
Es ist bekannt, dass die Mortalitätsrate von Langstreckenziehern in der Zeit zwischen dem Ausfliegen und dem Erreichen des ersten Lebensjahres am höchsten ist. Wir wissen jedoch weniger über dieses empfindliche Stadium als über die Faktoren, die den Ausfliegeerfolg beeinflussen (zumindest bei Vögeln, die in den gemäßigten Breiten brüten). Hier haben wir verschiedene Daten (Morphometrie, Phänologie, Videos aus dem Nest, Radiotrackingdaten) von zwei Generationen eines Langstreckenziehers (der Purpurschwalbe Progne subis) gesammelt. Wir untersuchen mehrere Lebensstadien, um zu verstehen, wie die Bedingungen im Nest sich auf die Zeit nach dem Ausfliegen übertragen könnten. Unsere Daten zeigen, dass ein früherer Legebeginn mit einer höheren Elternqualität in Verbindung steht, wobei wir die Elternqualität anhand der Bewegungen der Altvögel und ihres Fütteraufwands abschätzten. Trotz großer Schwankungen im Legebeginn war die Dauer der Nestlingsphase bei allen Nestern in etwa einheitlich, und das Ausflugsdatum sowie das Datum, an dem die Flügglinge das Brutgebiet verließen, waren offenbar stark durch diese relativ starre Nestlingsentwicklungdauer eingeschränkt. Die Nachkommen von Eltern, die früh mit der Brut begonnen hatten, waren beim Ausfliegen in offenbar besserer Körperkondition (wie sie durch eine größere Flügellänge angezeigt wurde). Angesichts der zeitlich starren Nestlingsdauer sorgte die höhere Elternqualität der frühen Brüter dafür, dass früh in der Saison schlüpfende Nestlinge den doppelten Vorteil einer besseren Kondition und eines früheren Abzugs aus dem Brutgebiet genossen – beides Maße, die bei dieser und vielen anderen Vogelarten die Wahrscheinlichkeit erhöhen, den ersten Zug zu überleben. Unsere Arbeit verdeutlicht einen möglichen Übertragungseffekt von der Nestlingsphase auf den Herbstzug und illustriert, wie verschiedene Datensätze aus mehreren Lebensstadien sinnvoll kombiniert werden können, um unser Wissen über den Bruterfolg um die weniger untersuchte Phase nach dem Ausfliegen zu erweitern.
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Data are available on request from the corresponding author.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the volunteers and staff at Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge who were involved in the project including Celeste Morien, Carl Zenger, Janie Mellas, Don Oldfield, Tom Roster, and Paul Hess. We are also indebted to Shan Billups, Sakina Zehra, and Anne Liu for their work on data collection. We are grateful to the UB Center for Computational Research for the use of their facilities.
Funding
Funding for this project was generously provided by the Purple Martin Conservation Association, the North American Bluebird Society, the New York State Bluebird Society, and the Buffalo Ornithological Society. None of the authors have any competing interests to declare.
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The scope of the project was conceived and planned by HMW. All authors contributed to fieldwork and data collection. EED led the kernel density analyses. Other analyses were led by RLD. All authors contributed to the writing and editing of the manuscript.
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All bird banding and tagging were done in compliance with IACUC BIO02016N at the State University of New York at Buffalo, USA. All relevant permits and permissions were obtained, including Federal bird banding permit (#08066); and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation license to collect or possess (banding) (#179).
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Williams, H.M., DeLeon, E.E. & DeLeon, R.L. Early parental nest initiation carries over to the departure date and quality of fledglings from the breeding grounds in the Purple Martin. J Ornithol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-024-02147-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-024-02147-2