Bird nests represent an extended phenotype of individuals expressed during reproduction
and so exhibit variability in composition, structure and function. Descriptions of nests based …

Bird nests can have various roles but all act as the location for incubation, so at least have to
serve to hold and support the incubating bird and its clutch of eggs. Nest construction is …

Simple Summary Life history and its related theories are one of the most important topics in
behavioral ecology, population ecology, and evolutionary biology. The reproductive ecology …

Studying nest construction provides insight into the functional and ecological aspects of this
key behaviour of avian reproductive biology. Studies have shown that passerines construct …

Observation of or interaction with the enduring products of behaviour, called 'social
artefacts'(eg an abandoned nest) is a potential source of social information. To learn from an …

Birds' nests represent a rich behavioural 'fingerprint', comprising several important decisions—
not the least of which is the selection of appropriate material. Material selection in nest …

Nest size has been suggested to be a sexually selected signal, allowing individuals to
obtain reliable information about partner quality and thereby optimize paternal investment in …

Female mass in most altricial birds reaches its maximum during breeding at egg laying,
which coincides temporally with the fertile phase when extra-pair paternity (EPP) is …

Urbanization has resulted in changes in bird life histories, and some species have
successfully adapted to urban environments, resulting in synurbization. Nest site selection in …

Avian growth has been traditionally examined using logistic, Gompertz or von Bertalanffy
non-linear equations. Although many studies have analysed nestling mass increase and the …