Nest-Site Fidelity in Griffon Vultures: A Case of Win–Stay/Lose–Shift?

In: Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution
Authors: Myriam Freunda,b, Ofer Bahatc,d, and Uzi Motroe
View More View Less
  • a The Program of Environmental Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel;
  • | b Present address: Kibutz Sde-Eliyahu 10810, Israel;
  • | c Scientific Director – Israel Raptor Conservation and Research Project, Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, Israel Nature and Parks Authority and Israel Electric Corporation;
  • | d Present address: 24 Haoranim Street, Zichron-Yaakov 30900, Israel;
  • | e Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, Department of Statistics, and The Federmann Center for the Study of Rationality, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
Online Publication Date:
07 Feb 2017
In:
Volume 63: Issue 2
Article Type:
Research Article
Pages:
39–43
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/22244662-06301007
Keywords:
Griffon Vulture; Gyps fulvus ; nest-site fidelity; Win–Stay/Lose–Shift; breeding success; nesting success

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

€29.95$34.95
Add to Cart
Rent on DeepDyve
Redeem Access Token

We studied the use of nest-sites by Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus) and the breeding success in these sites during 1998–2002 in Gamla Nature Reserve (Israel). Nest-sites in which a breeding attempt succeeded in fledging a young, were more likely to be occupied by nesting vultures in the following breeding season, than nest-sites that experienced a failure. This suggests that Griffon Vultures in Gamla used a Win–Stay/Lose–Shift strategy regarding nest-site fidelity.

In:
Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution
E-ISSN:
2224-4662
Print ISSN:
1565-9801
Publisher:
Brill
Cover Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution

  • Bahat O , Kaplan A , Baidatz Y , Kaplan L , Choshniak I , Houston D . 1993. Radio-tracking a juvenile Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) in the north of Israel – preliminary results. Isr J Zool. 39:47.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bahat O. 1995. Physiological adaptations and foraging ecology of an obligatory carrion eater – the Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus). Ph.D. thesis, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bahat O. 1997. Long-range movements of Griffon Vultures from Israel. In: Leshem Y , Lachman E , Berthold P , editors. Migrating birds know no boundaries – scientific and educational aspects of migrating bird conservation. Tel Aviv, Israel: The International Center for the Study of Bird Migration, Tel-Aviv University; p. 19–23.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Becker N , Inbar M , Bahat O , Choresh Y , Ben-Noon G , Yaffe O . 2005. Estimating the economic value of viewing griffon vultures Gyps fulvus: a Travel Cost Model study at Gamla Nature Reserve, Israel. Oryx 39:429–434.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Beheler AS , Rhodes OE Jr , Weeks HP Jr. 2003. Breeding site and mate fidelity in eastern phoebes (Sayornis phoebe) in Indiana. Auk 120:990–999.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Beletsky LD , Orians GH . 1991. Effects of breeding experience and familiarity on site fidelity in female red-winged blackbirds. Ecology 72:787–796.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bollinger EK , Gavin TA . 1989. The effects of site quality on breeding-site fidelity in bobolinks. Auk 106:584–594.

  • Calabuig G , Ortego JN , Cordero PJ , Aparicio JM . 2008. Causes, consequences and mechanisms of breeding dispersal in the colonial lesser kestrel, Falco naumanni. Anim Behav. 76:1989–1996.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Chalfoun AD , Martin TE . 2010. Facultative nest patch shifts in response to nest predation risk in the Brewer’s sparrow: a “win-stay, lose-switch” strategy? Oecologia 163:885–892.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Court L , Yosef R , Bahat O , Kaplan D . 1997. Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus nest surveillance project at the Gamla Nature Reserve, Golan Heights, Israel: 1996 conservation report. Vulture News 37:10–20.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Cramp S , Simmons KEL . 1980. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa – The birds of the western Palearctic, Vol. 2 (Hawks to Bustards). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Del Moral JC . 2009. El buitre leonado en España. Población reproductora en 2008 y método del censo. SEO/BirdLife, Madrid, Spain.

  • Doligez B , Danchin E , Clobert J . 2002. Public information and breeding habitat selection in a wild bird population. Science 297:1168–1170.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Dukas R , Real LA . 1993. Effects of recent experience on foraging decisions by bumble bees. Oecologia 94:244–246.

  • Forero MG , Donázar JA , Blas J , Hiraldo F . 1999. Causes and consequences of territory change and breeding dispersal distance in the Black Kite. Ecology 80:1298–1310.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Freund M , Bahat O , Motro U . 2017. Breeding success and its correlation with nest-site characteristics: a study of a Griffon Vulture colony in Gamla, Israel. J Raptor Res. 51:136–144.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Gill FB , Wolf LL . 1977. Nonrandom foraging by sunbirds in a patchy environment. Ecology 58:1284–1296.

  • Hatzofe O. 2012. A summary of the Griffon Vulture summer count in Israel, 2012. An internal report, Nature and Parks Authority, Israel (In Hebrew).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Hatzofe O. 2013. Working with vultures in Israel: conservation, mortality factors, survival, PVA model of the Griffon vultures in Israel and the Middle East. In: Papazoglou C , Charalambous C , editors. Proceedings of the Griffon Vulture Conference, Limassol, Cyprus; pp. 36–37.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Heinrich B. 1979. Resource heterogeneity and patterns of movement in foraging bumblebees. Oecologia 40:235–245.

  • Hodges CM . 1985. Bumble bee foraging: energetic consequences of using a threshold departure rule. Ecology 66:188–197.

  • Keasar T , Shmida A , Motro U . 1996. Innate movement rules in foraging bees: flight distances are affected by recent rewards and are correlated with choice of flower type. Behav Ecol Sociobiol. 39:381–388.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Mendl M , Laughlin K , Hitchcock D . 1997. Pigs in space: spatial memory and its susceptibility to interference. Anim Behav. 54:1491–1508.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Motro U , Shmida A . 1995. Near-Far Search: an evolutionarily stable foraging strategy. J Theor Biol. 173:15–22.

  • Mundy P , Butchart D , Ledger J , Piper S . 1992. The vultures of Africa. Randburg, South Africa: Acorn Books and Russel Friedman Books.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Newton I. 1993. Age and site fidelity in female sparrohawks, Accipiter nisus. Anim Behav. 46:161–168.

  • Nolan V. 1978. The ecology and behavior of the prairie warbler Dendroica discolor. Ornithol Monogr. 26.

  • Selten R , Shmida A . 1991. Pollinator foraging and flower competition in a game equilibrium model. In: Selten R , editor. Game equilibrium models I. Berlin: Springer; pp. 195–256.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Shields WM . 1984. Factors affecting nest and site fidelity in Adirondack barn swallows (Hirundo rustica). Auk 101:780–789.

  • Smith JNW . 1974. The food searching behaviour of two European thrushes II: The adaptiveness of the search patterns. Behaviour 49:1–61.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Spiegel O , Harel R , Centeno-Cuadros A , Hatzofe O , Getz WM , Nathan R . 2015. Moving beyond curve fitting: using complementary data to assess alternative explanations for long movements of three vulture species. Am Nat. 185:E44–E54.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Steenhof K , Peterson BE . 2009. Site fidelity, mate fidelity, and breeding dispersal in American Kestrels. Wilson J Ornithol. 121:12–21.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Waddington KD . 1980. Flight patterns of foraging honeybees in relation to artificial flower density and distribution of nectar. Oecologia 44:199–204.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Waddington KD . 1983. Foraging behavior of pollinators. In: Real LA , editor. Pollination biology. London: Academic Press; pp. 213–239.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Weatherhead PJ , Boak KA . 1986. Site infidelity in song sparrows. Anim Behav. 34:1299–1310.

  • Xirouchakis SM , Mylonas M . 2007. Breeding behaviour and parental care in the Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus on the island of Crete (Greece). Ethol Ecol Evol. 19:1–26.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Yaniv S. 2003. The division of parental care between the sexes in the Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus). M.Sc. thesis, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel (In Hebrew).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Zach R , Falls JB . 1977. Influence of capturing a prey on subsequent search in the ovenbird (Aves: Parulidae). Can J Zool. 55:1958–1969.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

Content Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 71 38 4
Full Text Views 3 1 0
PDF Views & Downloads 4 2 0