Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens) breeding demography across a gradient of savanna, woodland, and forest in the Missouri Ozarks

Abstract

Better knowledge of bird response to savanna and woodland restoration is needed to inform management of these communities. We related temporal and habitat variables to breeding demography and densities of the Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens) across a gradient of savanna, woodland, and forest. We determined nest success, clutch size, young fledged, and breeding densities and evaluated support for relationships with year, nest stage, date, nest height, tree cover, and percent forest in a 10-km radius. One hundred and twenty-eight of 310 nests (41.3%) fledged young. The most supported nest-survival model included nest stage and percent forest in the landscape. Daily nest survival was greater in the incubation than in the nestling stage and increased substantially with decreasing forest in the landscape. Four nests (1.3%) were parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater). Eastern Wood- Pewee density increased 83% over a range of 10-170% tree cover (percent tree stocking). Increased nest success with decreasing forest in the landscape indicates that Eastern Wood-Pewees are not highly susceptible to forest-fragmentation effects in the Missouri Ozarks, probably because they were not very susceptible to brood parasitism. The absence of any strong relationships between habitat measures and nest success, clutch size, or young fledged is in contrast to the large increase in density over the range of tree cover and is further evidence that variation in bird density does not always correspond to similar patterns in productivity. © 2013 by The American Ornithologists' Union. All rights reserved.