| Titre : | Nest characteristics of Yellow-billed Kites Milvus aegyptius in the Manambolomaty Lakes Complex, western Madagascar |
| Auteurs : | Tolojanahary Andriamalala, Auteur ; Lily-Arison Rene de Roland, Auteur ; Marius Rakotondratsima, Auteur ; Gilbert Razafimanjato, Auteur ; Russell Thorstrom, Auteur |
| Type de document : | Article |
| Dans : | Ostrich (84(1) 2013) |
| Article en page(s) : | 79-84 |
| Langues: | Anglais |
| Résumé : | We studied the nesting biology of Yellow-billed Kites Milvus aegyptius in the Manambolomaty Lakes Complex of western Madagascar during 2002 and 2003. We recorded 64 nesting attempts. In 2003, 33% (n = 39 nests) of the occupied nests were from the previous breeding season. The average time for building new nests was 57 d (SD = 30.6; range 18-83 d; n = 5 nests). Males contributed 75% of the nesting material. All nests were built of dry sticks and other unique nest materials. During the nest building period, 83% (n = 241) of the dry sticks were collected less than 50 m from the nest tree. The unique nest material was collected from the ground and delivered to the nest 10 d prior to egg-laying. The average distance between neighbouring nests was 264 m (SD = 270.8, range = 26-1 081, n = 33 nests). Yellow-billed Kite nests averaged 9.6 m (SD = 2.4; range 4-14.8 m; n = 64 nests) above ground level and 64% (41 of 64 nests) were in tamarind trees (Tamarindus indica). Nest trees mean DBH was 63.9 cm (SD = 28.1, range 25-200 cm; n = 64 nests). |



