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Water conditions influence nestling survival in a Hooded Crow Corvus cornix wetland population

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Abstract

This paper examines how flooded river valley conditions affect reproductive success of Hooded Crows Corvus cornix nesting in the biotope considered as primary for this species. The main goals of the present study were to determine the nesting period that most influences the breeding output and to investigate the factors influencing reproductive efficiency of the studied population. Mean survival rate of the whole nesting period (53 days––from egg laying to fledgling) was 0.371 (95% CL: 0.338–0.403), while mean survival for the incubation period (to day 21) was 0.850 (0.827–0.875) and mean survival rate for the nestling period was 0.499 (0.460–0.538). The study has shown that the most critical period in the breeding cycle is the first half of the nestling stage, especially from hatching to day 5. Furthermore, the study demonstrated how water conditions affect reproduction in untypical wetland species. Similarly to many other waterbirds, in the studied population of the Hooded Crow, water level positively influences its reproduction.

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Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Konrad Wypychowski, head of the National Park “Ujście Warty”, for his consent and support of the study and Jakub Kosicki for his unceasing help in the fieldwork. I would further like to thank Adrian Surmacki and Piotr Tryjanowski for helpful comments on the manuscript. Special thanks go to David Orwin (University of Bedfordshire) for correction of the English in the manuscript. My gratitude is due to the Regional Office for Water Management in Poznań (Regionalny Zarząd Gospodarki Wodnej w Poznaniu) and the meteorological station IMGW in Słubice for providing access to data concerning water levels and weather conditions in the study area.

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  1. Department of Avian Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Collegium Biologicum, Umultowska 89, 61-614, Poznań, Poland

    Piotr Zduniak

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  1. Piotr Zduniak
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Correspondence to Piotr Zduniak.

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Communicated by C. G. Guglielmo.

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Zduniak, P. Water conditions influence nestling survival in a Hooded Crow Corvus cornix wetland population. J Ornithol 151, 45–50 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-009-0424-0

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