Chapter 15 - Nests and Incubation Flashcards
Parents & Offspring
Name the hatch-ling development stages in order from least to most-needed parental care.
superprecocial, precocial, altricial, superaltricial
Name the types of nests in the order in which they correlate with increasing flight proficiency.
Ground, platform, simple elevated, cavity, complex elevated
Name a bird that doesn’t use a nest.
Emperor penguin
Note: they use their feet.
What are scape nests?
Nests that consist of a shallow depression on the ground. They are sometimes lined with substrate and eggs are often camouflaged in color.
What species build scrape nests?
Shorebirds (terns, plovers)
What species build platform nests?
raptors, herons (Great blue heron)
What is a floating nest?
a nest build either on floating vegetation or on an artificial island (bird-made)
What is a statant nest?
a nest that sits on a branch or an intersection of branches
such as simple cup nests
What is a pensile nest? Who builds them?
a nest that hangs from a branch.
Hummingbirds
What is an adherent nest? Who builds them?
a nest attached to a vertical surface and made of mud & sticks.
Swallows
What is a pendulous nest? Who builds them?
a variant of the cup nest, that hangs from a branch
Oropendalums, weavers
What is a globular nest? Who builds them?
a domed nest.
swifts make adherent globular nests
meadowlark make them out of grass
What is a retort nest?
a nest with a tunnel entrance to deter larger sized predators
What is a mound nest? Who builds them?
a large mound of substrate. The eggs are kept warm by the mound material as well as the fermenting material underneath. The parent regulates the temperature by covering & uncovering the eggs.
Megapods (mound-builders), Hammerkop
What are cavity nests? Who nests in them?
Nests made in cavities, often in trees. Some species find these cavities while others make the holes themselves (primary escavators).
Woodpeckers, hornbills (2ndary cavity nester), some owls
What species nest in burrows?
Puffins, burrowing owls
What is a communal nest? Who uses them?
a nest created and maintained by many birds
bee-eaters, social weaver bird
What happens to LH (Leutinizing hormone) levels at the onset of incubation?
It drastically drops just before incubation with Progesterone levels
What happens to progesterone levels at the onset of incubation?
it drops just before incubation with LH levels
What happens to prolactin levels at the onset of incubation?
it rises sharply just before incubation
How does prolactin effect birds?
it induces incubating behavior
What is a brood patch?
a bare patch of skin (either by plucking or induced feather loss by hormone changes) where parents transfer their body heat to incubating eggs.
Is parental activity (trip per hour) is higher at open nest sites or cavity nests?
hole-nests
