The effect of food supplementation on the reproductive success of Black‐billed Magpies Pica pica

Abstract

The effect of supplementary food on the reproductive success of Black‐billed Magpies Pica pica was studied in an urban habitat in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. We provided supplementary food (pelleted dog food) regularly from August 1986 to June 1988 in a feeder situated outside all known magpie territories. Magpies using the supplementary food showed (i) an advancement of 7 days in the initiation of laying, (ii) no increase in clutch‐size, (iii) higher survival of nest contents (eggs and young) during a spring snow storm, (iv) an increase in rate of nestling weight gain, and (v) an increase in fledging success. Supplementary food did not prompt the fed pairs to select nest sites nearer the feeder in 1988 than in 1987. The feeder did not affect the breeding density because the nearest neighbour distances of fed magpies did not differ from unfed magpies in either year, nor did they differ between the two years for either fed or unfed magpies. This study provided evidence that magpies frequently renest even if their initial nests fail after the eggs hatch—a practice that has been reported to be absent or rare in other studies. Although brood reduction was equally frequent in the nests of food‐supplemented and control pairs, the actual number of nestlings disappearing from the former (1.56 per nest) was significantly smaller than that from the latter (2.60 per nest), suggesting that the availability of food plays a major role in magpie reproductive success.