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Breeding Biology and Nesting Success of Palila’

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Breeding Biology and Nesting Success of Palila’ TheCondor92:1012-1021 0 The Cooper olnitholcgical society 1990 BREEDING BIOLOGY AND NESTING SUCCESS OF PALILA’ SANDRA M. PLETSCHET*,~ AND JEFFREYF. KELLY~ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,Patuxent Wildli$eResearch Center, Laurel, MD 20709 Abstract. We studied the breeding biology of Palila (Loxioidesbailleui) at 85 nests from 20 April to 14 September 1988. Eggswere laidover a 139&y period and incubationaveraged 16.6 davs. The female incubated 85.2% of davliaht hours and males fed incubating females. Modal clutch size was 2 (X = 2.0) and an averageof 1.4 nestlingsfledged per succe&fulnest. Nestlings were in the nest an average of 25.3 days. Both females and males fed nestlings with the rate of feeding decreasingas the nestlingsgrew older. Palila nesting successwas 25%, reduced primarily by hatching failure and depredation of nestlings.Hatching failure, due to inviable eggsor desertion, occurredin 4 1% of nestswith eggs(55% of nest mortality). Egg depredation was rare (5% of nest mortality). Inbreeding and low food availability are postulated as the major causesfor poor hatching success. Twenty-one percent of nests with nestlingswere depredated(35% of nest mortality). Brood reduction was observed in 47% of nests with two nestlings.Nest successdecreased signifi- cantly late in the breeding season, from 46.4% to 12.8%. During this same period, the abundanceof mamane (Sojhora chrysophylla)pods, the Palila’s primary food, also decreased significantly.Stepwise discriminant analysiscorrectly classified the fate of 79% of nestsusing e&laying date,hest-tree area, and d&ance between the nest tree and adjacent trees ai variables. Key words: Palila; Loxioides bailleui; Hawaii; endangeredspecies;nestingsuccess; hatch- ing success;brood reduction. INTRODUCTION Forest Reserve in 1980 and Moutlon sheep in The Palila (Loxioides bailleui) is an endangered 1988 is allowing regeneration of the mamane finch-billed Hawaiian honeycreeper (Fringilli- forest.Van Riper (1978,198Oa) reportedon many dae, subfamily Drepanidinae) with a range lim- aspectsof Palila breeding biology, but because ited to the subalpine woodland of Mauna Kea his sample size was small (n = 20 nests), little is on the island of Hawaii. The highest densities of known about nesting successor causes of nest Palila have been found near Puu Laau between failure. Further research on Palila breeding bi- 2,100 m and 2,500 m elevation (Scott et al. 1984, ology is necessaryto identify factors limiting Pa- 1986). The Palila occupiesthe mamane (Sophora lila population growth. The objectives of our re- chrysophylla) ecosystem and uses the mamane searchwere to: (1) obtain additional information tree for food, nesting, and shelter. They feed pri- on the breeding biology of the Palila; (2) deter- marily on immature seedsin green mamane pods mine nesting success;(3) evaluate factors that but also eat mamane flowers, insects, and naio limit nesting success;and (4) make recommen- (ikfyoporum sandwicense) berries (van Riper dations for further research. 1980a). STUDY AREA AND METHODS Habitat destruction by feral ungulates begin- ning in the early 1800s is believed to have been Field research for this study was conducted in a major factor in the decline of Palila (Berger et the Mauna Kea Forest Reserve east of Puu Laau al. 1977, Scott et al. 1984). Elimination of most on the western slope of Mauna Kea, Hawaii (Fig. of the feral goatsand sheepfrom the Mauna Kea 1). The study site extended from 2,300 m to 2,800 m elevation and covered approximately 410 ha. The habitat is dry subalpine woodland I Received 9 March 1990. Final acceptance18 July dominated throughout by mamane. Naio is 1990. sparsely scatteredin the lower elevations. Trees 2Present address:Oklahoma Cooperative Fish and are short (3-10 m) with an open canopy. The Wildlife ResearchUnit, Department-ofZoology, Okla- understory is also relatively open, dominated by homa State University, Stillwater, OK 74078. 3 Please send reprint requeststo: Hawaii Research both native and introduced grasses. Group, P.O. Box 44, Hawaii VolcanoesNational Park, Twenty-two transects, 900 m to 1,300 m in HI 96718. length and 100 m to 500 m apart, were estab- [1012] PALILA BREEDING BIOLOGY 1013 lished systematically throughout the study area. Transects were carefully searched for nests on four occasionsbetween late March and mid-Sep- tember 1988. Nests were located by examining each tree within 30 m of a transect, yielding a total of 153 ha searchedper sample period. Nest contents were viewed with a mirror, 10 cm in diameter, attached to the end of a 4-m telescop- ing pole. To minimize nest disturbance, the ob- server left the nest area immediately after nest contents were determined. Nest contents and the parents’ behavior were monitored every second or third day. Placing a mirror above a nest with nestlings older than 17 days can cause the nest- FIGURE 1. Location of study site (shaded area) on the western slope of Mauna Kea. lings to prematurely leave the nest. Therefore, nestlingsolder than 17 days were monitored from a distance by watching for activity with binoc- with males having more extensive and brighter ulars or spotting scope. To determine nest fate yellow than females. and fledging date, nests were watched every day During nest searches,frequency of mamane after nestlings were 20 days old. pods on terminal branchlets was estimated for Most nests were found after the onset of in- four randomly selected trees (> 3 m tall) along cubation, thereforenesting successwas estimated transects at 150-m intervals. In addition, fre- using the Mayfield method (196 1, 1975). Stan- quency of pods was estimated for each nest tree dard errors and tests of differences in nesting and four surrounding trees (nest-area trees). For successwere calculated according to Bart and each mamane tree, frequency of immature, but Robson (1982). The computer program “Con- fully expanded pods, was estimated to the nearest trast” (Hines and Sauer, unpubl.) was used to 5% and very little was recorded as less than 5%. compute the testsof differencesbetween groups. Nest-site characteristics were measured after The possibility that visiting a Palila nest in- the completion of nesting. An index of crown creasedthe risk of nest failure for a short time area was calculated from the product of widest after a visit was investigated by estimating the nest-tree diameter and diameter perpendicular daily mortality rate for several days after a visit to widest (nest-tree area). Nest location in the (Bart 1977). Nests that fledgedat least one young canopy was the distance from nest center to were considered successful.Depredation was as- ground, to end of vegetation above nest (canopy sumed when eggsor young nestlings (< 22 days top), to center of vegetation surrounding nest old) disappeared from a nest. Depredated nests (center of canopy), and to nearest canopy edge. were carefully examined for clues of the predator Percent foliage cover around the nest was used responsible. A nest was considered abandoned as an index of nest concealment. Cover (to the when an adult was not seen on or near the nest nearest 5%) 0.5 m above, below, and in each of and the eggswere cold or nestlings dead. Aban- the four cardinal directions (0,90, 180, and 270”) doned Palila eggswere collected and preserved was estimated by viewing the nest at eye level in 10% formalin and later examined for devel- from a distance of 1 m in each of the six direc- opment. tions. An average of the six cover estimates was Ten Palila nestswere monitored by observing used for analysis. them for 1 or 2 hr every second day. Except Other habitat measurements were taken along during the initial discovery, Palila on these nests lines starting at the nest center and extending in were never flushed or otherwise disturbed. Nests four cardinal directions. These included the lin- were observed using a spotting scopelocated in ear distance of foliage cover from the nest to a a blind approximately 10 m from the nest. Ob- break in cover of at least 1 m (end of foliage servations were made between 07:OOand 18:O0. cover), and the lowest foliage in the outer part During a nest watch, all Palila activity in and of the canopy (canopy bottom). Each of these around the nest was timed and recorded. Sex was was averagedfor analysis. The distance from the determined by plumage differences on the head nest tree to the nearest tree (> 3 m tall) was mea- 1014 SANDRA M. PLETSCHET AND JEFFREY F. KELLY sured in each of four quadrats defined by the of two or more branches. Nest placement was cardinal lines. The averageof thesefour distances predominantly in terminal forks (67%), with 22% was used for analysis (nearest trees). built in the center and 11% in lateral forks. Nest placement was categorized as: (1) “ter- minal” when in limbs forming the most distant INCUBATION PERIOD group of stems from the trunk and in the top The earliest date of egg laying was calculated to 20% of the nest tree; (2) “lateral” when in end be 7 April and the latest 24 August with the peak clusters of limbs in the lower 80% of the nest of egg laying in mid-June (Fig. 2). Incubation tree; and (3) “central” when in limbs not the most averaged 16.6 days (SD = 0.49, range = 16-17 distant groups. days, n = 6 nests) (day 0 was the day on which Two-sample comparisons were made with the the clutch was completed).Among 52 nests,clutch Wilcoxon’s rank-sum test and paired compari- size ranged from one to four eggsand the mean sonswere performed with the Wilcoxon’s signed- clutch size was 2.0 eggs (SD = 0.35). Two-egg rank test. Frequencies were compared using clutches were the mode, making up 87% of the Fisher’s exact test.
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