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Simple Summary: Abandoned underground coal mines collect ground water that eventually finds its way to the surface. A common way to treat pollutants and sediments from this mine water is to create passive treatment ponds that remove contaminates before the water enters a surface stream. Tree Swallows and many other birds and wildlife live and breed near these treatment ponds, with potentially detrimental effects. We monitored 63 nests over two breeding seasons (2022–2023) to determine if nests located next to the ponds had better or worse reproductive outcomes than nests farther away. We found that nests close to the ponds (<70 m) had higher numbers of young that survived to the age of fledging than nests that were built farther away from the ponds (>820 m). While this suggests that the treatment ponds provided meaningful resources for Tree Swallows to reproduce, the numbers of offspring were unusually low compared to what was found in studies by other investigators at other sites. More research will be needed to determine why. Abandoned mine drainage treatment ponds could have contrasting effects on the reproductive success of birds living in the vicinity. The ponds and associated vegetation may, like any other body of freshwater, provide beneficial habitats for the insects that the birds use to feed their young; or instead, the ponds may act as an ecological trap, attracting the birds to a habitat that is poor in quality and negatively impacting their productivity. We monitored nests of an aerial insectivore, the Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor), to determine whether the distance between the ponds and the nests affected various reproductive parameters including clutch size, hatch rate, number of nestlings, nestling size and mass, number of fledglings, fledging rate, and fledge date. Data were collected over two breeding seasons (2022 and 2023) from a swallow population in southwestern Pennsylvania, USA. We found that the nests closest to the treatment ponds had significantly more nestlings and fledglings, earlier fledge dates, and a better fledging rate when compared to nests that were more distant from the ponds. However, all these parameters were well below previously published values, which suggests that the mine drainage ponds provide good nesting habitats relative to what is available in the region but that they do not represent high-quality habitats for this species overall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.07.012 Byline: James S. Kellam, Jeffrey R. Lucas, John C. Wingfield Abstract: Studies of the role of testosterone (T) in birds have typically focused on sexual or aggressive behaviours of males during the breeding period, but males of nonmigratory species may invest in mate and territory long before breeding, and the influence of T in facilitating nonbreeding-season behaviours is poorly understood. We gave free-living male downy woodpeckers, Picoides pubescens, T-implants during the winter to determine whether elevated levels of T increased a male's ability to exclusively occupy territory-based resources, and whether elevated T strengthened a male's investment in an existing pair bond relationship. We also explored how a female's foraging efficiency might be affected by her mate's behaviour if he had elevated T. We found little difference between control and T-implanted males with regard to home range exclusivity. Surprisingly, male-male display rates were significantly lower in T-implanted males than in controls. Regarding male-female interactions, T-implanted males that experienced high incursion rates from other males maintained more frequent spatial association with their mate, suggesting that T facilitates male behaviours that could restrict the mate's access to other male birds. Female mates of T-males showed reduced foraging rates, but because male-female aggression was similar between treatment groups, the cause for this reduction is unknown. The results indicate that exogenous T during winter affects a variety of behaviours in male woodpeckers, and proximate influences on pair bond maintenance in winter may be a fruitful avenue for future research. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, U.S.A. (a ) Department of Biology, University of Washington, U.S.A. Article History: Received 20 December 2004; Revised 8 March 2005; Accepted 21 July 2005 Article Note: (miscellaneous) MS. number: A10067

We investigated patterns of seasonal variation in body weight in six populations of five resident species of temperate-zone woodpeckers: Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus), Red-bellied Woodpecker (M. carolinus), Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis), Downy Woodpecker (P. pubescens), and Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major). After controlling for time of day and overall body size, annual variation in body weight was small and generally not statistically significant. However, analysis revealed evidence of significant 'winter fattening,' comparable in magnitude to other temperate-zone resident species, in three of the species. The degree of winter fattening did not correlate with either the size of the acorn crop (for the Acorn Woodpecker) of latitude, two variables potentially related to predictability of food resources. However, the smaller species exhibited significantly greater winter fattening than the larger species, as predicted by the hypothesis that energy storage should he more important for small-bodied species. Furthermore, the food-storing Acorn Woodpecker exhibited considerably less winter fattening than the nonfood-storing species, supporting the hypothesis that food storage provides an ecological alternative to winter fattening. Key words: body mass, body weight, fat storage, food storage, Piciformes, seasonality, woodpeckers. Investigamos los patrones estacionales de variacion en el peso corporal en seis poblaciones de cinco especies residentes de pajaros carpinteros de la zona templada: Melanerpes formicivorus, M. carolinus, Picoides borealis, P. pubescens y Dendrocopos major. Tras controlar por la hora del dia y el tamano corporal general, la variacion annual en el peso fue pequena y en general no significativa estadisticamente. Sin embargo, los analisis evidenciaron que tres de las especies experimentan un 'engordamiento invernal' comparable en magnitud al documentado para otras aves residentes de la zona templada. El grado de engordamiento invernal no se correlaciono con el tamano de la cosecha de bellotas (para M. formicivorus) ni con la latitud, dos variables potencialmente relacionadas con la predecibilidad de los recursos alimenticios. Sin embargo, las especies de menor tamano engordaron significativamente mas que las especies de tamano mas grande, una prediccion de la hipotesis que plantea que el almacenamiento de energia deberia ser mas importante para las especies de cuerpo pequeno. Ademas, M. formicivorus, una especie que almacena alimentos, exhibio un engordamiento de invierno considerablemente menor que las especies que no almacenan alimentos, lo que apoya la hipotesis de que el almacenamiento de alimento representa una alternativa ecologica al engordamiento.

Individuals in a number of bird species have the opportunity to maintain contact with their mates during nonbreeding periods. This contact may be important to synchronize the partners' reproductive cycles before breeding begins. As a first step toward exploring the function of pair bond maintenance in non-breeding birds, I studied the behavior of three pairs of Pileated Woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus) and an unpaired male at roost sites during autumn. At dawn and dusk, paired individuals exchanged visual, vocal, and other acoustical signals identical to those given during the breeding season. Demonstration tapping away from a nest is reported here for the first time. The possible function of these behaviors may be related to monitoring the partner's condition and investing in the pair bond to enhance future reproductive success. Received 19 September 2002, accepted 01 March 2003., The pair bond of many birds is formed each spring as courting birds establish a relationship with their future mate. Once the nesting season ends, many birds cease to maintain [...]