Home-range size and site tenacity of overwintering Le Conte's Sparrows in a fire managed prairie

Heather Baldwin; Clinton W. Jeske; Melissa A. Powell; Paul C. Chadwick; Wylie C. Barrow

doi:10.1676/08-160.1

Home/Archive/USGS

USGS · 70204068

Home-range size and site tenacity of overwintering Le Conte's Sparrows in a fire managed prairie

Heather Baldwin·Clinton W. Jeske·Melissa A. Powell·Paul C. Chadwick·Wylie C. Barrow

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

We evaluated home-range size and site tenacity of Le Conte's Sparrows ( Ammodramus lecontii ) during winter 2002–2003 at Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, Texas. Twenty-six wintering Le Conte's Sparrows were radiomarked in 1- and 2-year post-burn units, and monitored for ∼10 days. Additionally, 1-ha plots on each 1-, 2- and 3-year ( n = 15) post-burn units were flush-netted once monthly. Telemetry results indicated Le Conte's Sparrows were sedentary during winter with a 50% probability mean home-range of 2.41 ha (72% < 1 ha) and a 95% probability mean home range of 10.31 ha (44% < 1 ha and 55% < 1.5 ha). Home-range size did not differ between post-burn year 1 and 2 ( P = 0.227). Le Conte's Sparrows appeared to exhibit a behavioral response to flush-netting ( P < 0.001) with estimated capture probability of 0.462 and recapture probability of 0.056. Our findings suggest Le Conte's Sparrows remain fairly sedentary throughout the winter.

Explore related subjects

Wilson Journal of Ornithology Article

Source-reported bounding extent: 28.97570793083223° to 29.21241018089003° latitude; -95.31274795532227° to -95.14984130859374° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Heather Baldwin, Clinton W. Jeske, Melissa A. Powell, Paul C. Chadwick, Wylie C. Barrow. 2010. Home-range size and site tenacity of overwintering Le Conte's Sparrows in a fire managed prairie. https://doi.org/10.1676/08-160.1

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related USGS reports

USGS2026

Leucism in a family group and a review of color aberrations in Burrowing Owls ( Athene cunicularia )

Avian color aberrations capture public interest and sometimes indicate ecological problems. Diagnosing color aberration type can be difficult because nomenclature is inconsistent, appearance of color aberrations vary, typical coloration varies, and there are many undocumented color aberration types. One type of recognized avian color aberration is leucism. Leucism is often colloquially used to refer to all birds that are paler than normal but not albino, but it specifically refers to a plumage aberration in which, from hatching onward, birds are either all white or have patches of bilaterally symmetrical white feathers mixed with normally colored feathers, while retaining black pupils. Here, we document a case of leucism in a family of North American Burrowing Owls ( Athene cunicularia ). We observed a family group (two adults and five juveniles) of five leucistic, nearly all white owls, and two typically colored owls, in the Conata Basin, South Dakota, USA, in summer 2024. We also compiled all searchable records of color aberrations in Burrowing Owls across their North and South American range. We found 60 records of color aberrations, seven of which were cases of potential leucism. Twenty-five color aberrations were an unknown type in which only eye color was affected, all of them in Florida (USA) or south/central Brazil. Documenting color aberrations in birds can help expand our understanding of the types, causes, and consequences of color aberrations as well as the pigments and genetics that underly normal coloration.

South Dakota↗

USGS2026

Physiological impacts of sublethal Cyathocotyle bushiensis and Sphaeridiotrema pseudoglobulus infections in captive Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)

Thousands of Lesser Scaup ( Aythya affinis ) die annually in the Upper Mississippi River System, USA, from intestinal infections after birds consume exotic faucet snails, Bithynia tentaculata , infected with introduced parasites, Cyathocotyle bushiensis and Sphaeridiotrema pseudoglobulus . To date, the low frequency (biannual) and magnitude of mortality events from intestinal infections likely prevents trematode mortalities from being a major contributor to Lesser Scaup population declines. However, questions remain regarding the role sublethal infections may have on Lesser Scaup fitness along with the potential for carryover effects in the following breeding season. We examined the impact of a single sublethal C. bushiensis and S. pseudoglobulus infection on select physiological parameters in Lesser Scaup over a 10-day period post inoculation through three trials, each involving three experimental groups: baseline control, trial control, and treatment ( n = 96 scaup). We found that male Lesser Scaup that were in better body condition before the trial had fewer C. bushiensis and Sphaeridiotrema pseudoglobulus recovered from their intestines at necropsy. Individuals with the highest numbers of C. bushiensis and S. pseudoglobulus in their intestines lost the largest amounts of body mass during the trial. We found that blood urea nitrogen and triglycerides were lower when C. bushiensis and S. pseudoglobulus were present. Triglycerides and glucose declined from Day 0 to Day 5 but stabilized on Day 10 of the trial. Our results highlight changes in physiological metrics in Lesser Scaup from a sublethal infection with C. bushiensis and S. pseudoglobulus under experimental conditions. Changes in Lesser Scaup health parameters indicated that scaup surviving a single sublethal trematode infection may have reduced body condition, which could lead to negative health implications in the following breeding season.

Wilson Journal of Ornithology↗

USGS2025

Delayed incubation leads to hatching failure of a Burrowing Owl ( Athene cunicularia ) nest

Birds face strong selective pressures to complete individual nesting attempts as quickly as possible to minimize exposure of nests to predators and weather, maximize renesting potential, and maximize hatching success. As a result, the duration of developmental periods and of overall nest periods are often relatively constant within species. However, birds may sometimes be subject to acute energetic constraints that may preclude them from initiating incubation at the optimal time. We report an extraordinary case of delayed incubation by a female Burrowing Owl ( Athene cunicularia ) in Oregon, USA, which contrasted sharply with a large sample of nests monitored by motion-activated video cameras in western North America from 2015 to 2018. The focal female delayed incubation by 11 d following clutch completion and subsequently experienced near total hatching failure of her clutch. This observation corroborates previous experimental studies regarding the limits to egg viability and trade-offs between the timing of incubation onset and hatching success. These findings illustrate the acute trade-offs faced by nesting birds, and the cost of delayed incubation that we observed in this owl could help explain the cause of asynchronous hatching.

Oregon↗