Meeting Abstract

74-3   14:00 - 14:15  Lights, noise, nesting? Relationships between human habitat disturbances, nest site preference, and fledging success in cavity-nesting songbirds. Howerin, HM*; Foltz, SL; Radford University; Radford University hhowerin@radford.edu

Continuing urban expansion and deforestation are changing the way we interact with many species, including secondary cavity nesting birds. Urbanization is forcing these species to interact with humans more frequently, while deforestation is limiting the number of natural cavities available, increasing competition for nesting sites. Eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis) and tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) are cavity nesting species native to the east coast of North America that often breed near humans and willingly use artificial nestboxes in both urban and rural areas. They have particularly high interspecies competition where their ranges overlap and the effect of habitat disturbances associated with urbanization on their nest location preferences are not well understood. In the past two years, we have compared nestbox features and environmental conditions with each species’ box use. Our preliminary results suggest that tree swallows tend to prefer boxes with less canopy cover, while bluebirds tend to prefer boxes with less human activity and ambient noise. This year, we have included more nestboxes and an additional variable that is commonly associated with human disturbance—artificial light at night (ALAN). Data analysis is ongoing, but we expect to see a similar trend to what we have found in the previous years; that is, we predict that both species will have the same preferences regarding canopy cover, human activity, and ambient noise, and that tree swallows will be more tolerant of ALAN than bluebirds. The results will deepen our understanding of how exactly human disturbances associated with urbanization affect the behavior and reproductive success of native species and may be useful in selecting high-quality sites for artificial nestbox placement to aid in the conservation of these species.