Does flooding influence the types and proportions of prey delivered to nestling Mississippi Kites?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Mississippi Kites (Ictinia mississippiensis) nesting in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, USA, have consistently exhibited poor reproductive success, reduced average clutch sizes, and evidence of food stress during brood-rearing, raising concerns about population viability. Unlike populations elsewhere, kites nesting in the bottomland forests of this region face dynamic, anthropogenically altered hydrologic conditions that may be affecting the availability of important prey. Therefore, we quantified nestling diets and examined factors thought to be directly influencing the types and proportions of prey delivered to kite nestlings. Specifically, we sought to identify variables affecting the delivery of annual cicadas, the dominant prey item fed to kite chicks in numerous systems, as cicada emergence from subterranean burrows is known to be delayed by flooding. Using time-lapse video, we documented nestling diets and evaluated predictors of diet variability in east-central Arkansas, USA. We found th...