Nest-site selection and hatching success of waterbirds in coastal Virginia: some results of habitat manipulation

Abstract

Abstract Rising sea levels in the mid-Atlantic region pose a long-term threat to marshes and their avian inhabitants. The Gull-billed Tern (Sterna nilotica), Common Tern (S. hirundo), Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger), and American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus), species of concern in Virginia, nest on low shelly perimeters of salt marsh islands on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Marsh shellpiles are free of mammalian predators, but subject to frequent floods that reduce reproductive success. In an attempt to examine nest-site selection, enhance habitat, and improve hatching success, small (2 × 2 m) plots on five island shellpiles were experimentally elevated, and nest-site selection and hatching success were monitored from 1 May to 1 August, 2002. In addition, location, elevation, and nesting performance of all other nests in the colonies were also monitored. No species selected the elevated experimental plots preferentially over adjacent control plots at any of the sites. When all nests were considere...