Environmental and behavioral factors affect northern bobwhite offspring survival

Abstract

Many environmental and behavioral factors can affect offspring survival, and these factors can vary by species. Parental investments, defense or distraction displays, and translocation can potentially affect survival of young. Alterations in parental investment strategies may carry implications for population growth due to lower offspring survival in translocated bobwhites. We hypothesized that translocation would not impact brood defense behaviors in bobwhites as predator communities may be similar between donor sites (Florida) and release sites (North Carolina). However, we hypothesized that brood defense behaviors affect offspring survival rates. We conducted defense behavior observations by approaching brood‐rearing bobwhites and recording exhibited behaviors, and assigned scores based on behavioral intensity. We used the corral capture method and modified‐suture technique to capture and radio‐tag bobwhite chicks. Brood defense behaviors did not differ between resident and translocated bobwhites. We observed seven different brood defense behaviors: fly away, run, labored flight, labored flight with broken wing display, run with broken wing display, hold tight and approach behaviors. We found that time‐varying precipitation and behavioral intensity affected bobwhite chick survival. These results indicate that translocation does not impact brood defense behaviors due to behavioral similarities between resident and translocated cohorts. These results portend that some variation in annual chick mortality cannot be mitigated by habitat management. We also provide evidence that translocation does not alter/suppress important behavioral patterns in bobwhite, indicating it is a viable method for restoring bobwhite populations in conjunction with habitat management.