Estimation and Comparison of Functions of Daily Nest Survival Probabilities Using the Mayfield Method

Abstract

The Mayfield (1960, 1961, 1975) method of estimating nesting success is used to overcome problems of bias in other estimators. This method is based on estimating daily survival probabilities. Estimates of parameters other than daily survival probabilities are sometimes necessary when considering nesting success. The Mayfield method for estimating daily survivorship can be used in deriving these estimates. A method for estimating parameters which are functions of daily survival probabilities and for deriving the corresponding variances of these estimates is given. Statistical comparisons of these parameters are then possible.