Hatch-year Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) prospecting and habitat quality influence second-year nest site selection

Abstract

ABSTRACT Juvenile prospecting, or exploratory behavior for gleaning information about areas or events, can have profound effects on the selection of future breeding habitat, particularly for birds with high site fidelity whose initial choice of breeding habitat could represent a lifetime investment in fitness. We present data from a 10-yr study of Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus) on the Missouri River, USA, to determine whether postfledging, hatch-year (HY) prospecting movements inform second-year (SY) nest site choices. First, we compared the home ranges of HY and adult (after-hatch-year; AHY) plovers to investigate whether differences in habitat use existed between HY and AHY plovers. Second, we evaluated the effects of prospecting, nest density, reproductive success, and nesting and foraging habitat availability on SY plover nest site selection. Lastly, we evaluated the potential reproductive benefits of nesting in prospected areas by comparing the nest success and fledging success of SY plovers tha...