Effects of Human Disturbance on Breeding of Black-Crowned Night Herons

Visits to Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) colonies just before or during laying provoked abandonment of newly constructed nests and either predation of eggs or abandonment of eggs followed by predation. Investigator distrubance caused mortality of young in some situations. Frequent...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Auk 1979-04, Vol.96 (2), p.364-369
Main Authors: Jacqueline Tremblay, Ellison, Laurence N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal nesting
Bird nesting
Breeding
Clutch size
Eggs
Empty nest syndrome
Hatching
Mortality
Predation
Reproductive success
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Summary:Visits to Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) colonies just before or during laying provoked abandonment of newly constructed nests and either predation of eggs or abandonment of eggs followed by predation. Investigator distrubance caused mortality of young in some situations. Frequent disturbance also discouraged the settlement of late-nesting night herons, late clutches being more likely in colonies visited only twice than in colonies visited 10-15 times. Clutch size and fledging success of successful early nests were the same in frequently and infrequently disturbed colonies.
ISSN:0004-8038
1938-4254