Diurnal variation in nest material use by the Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus

Abstract

Most birds use nest materials around their eggs (Collias& Collias 1984, Hansell 2000). In ground-nesting birdssuch as waders nest materials appear to have two majorfunctions. First, nest materials reduce the temperaturefluctuations of eggs by insulating them from the ambientenvironment. This promotes embryonic developmentby providing a stable thermal environment (Moller 1991,Reid