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Butcher1 ABSTRACT.—We observed a male Black-capped erative and male-initiated nest-building behav- Vireo (Vireo atricapilla) exhibiting nest site selection in iors are related to pair bonding, parental quality, east-central Texas. The paired male was observed to de- and the ability of males to invest in reproduction construct the nest the female was assembling. To our knowledge, male nest site selection has not been observed (Collias and Collias 1984, Hoi et al. 1996, Soler and reported in the literature for vireos. Received 11 De- et al. 1998). Nest building by males prior to cember 2006. Accepted 6 September 2007. pairing has been observed in several vireo spe- cies including Plumbeous Vireo (Vireo plum- beus) (DeMarco et al. 2000), Bell’s Vireo (V. It is not uncommon for male passerines to bellii) (Brown 1993), and Yellow-throated Vireo begin building nests before they form pair bonds (V. flavifrons) (James 1978, Rodewald and (James 1978, Collias and Collias 1984). Coop- James 1996). James (1978) observed male Blue- headed Vireos (V. solitarius) building nests be- 1 Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, fore pairing. James (1978) also noted that com- Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA. mencement of paired nest building occurred 2 Corresponding author; e-mail: soon after pairing and hypothesized that males [email protected] were selecting nest sites. Graber (1961) ob- 408 THE WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY • Vol. 120, No. 2, June 2008 served that male Black-capped Vireos (V. atri- at 1130 hrs. Between 1130 and 1200 hrs the capilla) began building nests before pairing. She male flew to nest A without nesting material reported that, after pairing, a nest would be built and perched ϳ1 m from the nest five times. by the pair and concluded it was the female that During the same period, the female carried selected the nest site. We observed a male nesting material to nest A twice. Black-capped Vireo exhibiting nest site selec- Nest A was completed on 1 May and we ob- tion in April 2006. We also observed the male served the male singing within 10 m of the nest. deconstructing the nest the female was assem- The condition of nest B was unchanged from bling. To our knowledge, these behaviors have 27 April. Nest A was empty on 4 May and still not been observed and reported for vireos. in completed condition. We observed four Black-capped Vireo eggs and one Brown-head- OBSERVATIONS ed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) egg in nest A on We conducted nest searching as one com- 8 May. Nest A was empty and undamaged on ponent of research to monitor occupancy and 11 May. We observed this pair for approxi- population trends of Black-capped Vireos on mately 29 hrs throughout the breeding season. private land in Coryell and Hamilton counties During this time, the pair built and laid eggs in in east-central Texas. We monitored 17 pairs three additional nests. We did not locate any of Black-capped Vireos for ϳ864 hrs from 16 other breeding pairs of Black-capped Vireos March to 31 July 2006. We monitored each within ϳ1.5 km of their territory. nesting pair 2 days per week. We first observed the male Black-capped DISCUSSION Vireo on 17 April as it carried nest building Our observations suggest the male Black- material twice to a fork in a branch of a shin capped Vireo preferred one nest over another, oak (Quercus sinuata) ϳ0.5 m from a large selecting it while the female was actively downed Ashe juniper (Juniperus ashei). The building both nests. Our observations may re- male was observed for Ͼ3 hrs and a female flect behaviors involved in the process of nest was not detected. We observed the male sing- site selection. It is possible the male began ing within 20 m of this first nest (nest A) and building both nests and then selected one. It up to 250 m distant. Nest A consisted of is not uncommon for male Black-capped Vir- strands of webbing in a slightly cup-shaped eos to begin building nest rims prior to pairing platform typical of a partially built vireo nest. (Grzybowski 1995). These beginning nests are We observed the male within 5 m of nest A often displayed to females as part of courtship on 20 April. Nest A was unchanged and a and may subsequently serve as an active nest female was not detected. We observed the with approval of the female. We have ob- male for 3 hrs singing within 20 m of nest A served Black-capped Vireo pairs deconstruct- and up to 250 m distant on 24 April. We did ing old nests for material to be used in new not observe a female on 24 April and the con- nests. Bent (1950) and Nolan (1960) described dition of the nest A was unchanged. aggressive interactions between male and fe- We observed a female Black-capped Vireo male vireos during courtship and nest build- with the male on 27 April. We observed the ing. However, we were unable to find reports male singing within 10 m of the female at in the literature of males selecting nests sites 0920 hrs. The female carried nesting material to the contrary of the female’s choice or males to nest A at 0935 hrs which was ϳ15% built. deconstructing a nest being built by a female At 1000 hrs the female carried nesting mate- by actively removing nest material. It is pos- rial north to a different location where nest B sible this behavior occurs occasionally but is was later found. The female carried nesting not observed or reported. Grzybowski (1990) material to nest B again at 1115 hrs. While reported that Black-capped Vireos often nest the female was arranging nesting material at in aggregations and smaller aggregations con- nest B, the male landed next to her and the tain a greater proportion of second-year males. female flushed from the nest. The male pulled We did not detect other Black-capped Vireos material from nest B and flew in the direction nesting within 1.5 km of this pair. We did not of nest A. Nest B was ϳ10% built at that time. ascertain the age of these birds and speculate We observed the male and female at nest A the male may have been in his second-year; SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 409 the behavior we observed may be the result COLLIAS,N.E.AND E. C. COLLIAS. 1984. Mate selec- of a lack of breeding experience or inequality tion and nest building. Pages 57–73 in Nest build- in experience between the male and female. ing and bird behavior. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. It is difficult to draw any conclusions con- DEMARCO, T.