Temporal patterns of predation on artificial nests in the southern boreal forest

We examined temporal and spatial patterns of nest predation using artificial nests containing a timing device. On a daily basis, predation was bimodally distributed with peaks of activity occurring 3 hours after sunrise and 2 hours before sunset. The average times when nests were destroyed by mice, squirrels, and corvids differed significantly Daily nest survival over a 12-day "incubation" period was not constant, as 58% of all predation occurred within the first 3 days. Experimenter visits to nests may have influenced predation, because 8% of all predation occurred less than 1 hour after observers left nests. The probability that nearest-neighbor nests were destroyed within 1 hour of each other was significantly greater than expected if nests were destroyed randomly. Artificial nests containing timing devices provide useful data on patterns of nest predation that cannot be obtained if nests are checked infrequently.