| Birds should maximize fitness by evaluating the costs and benefits of a potential breeding site and investing in reproduction to maximize success according to the conditions existing there. I evaluated the influence of prey abundance, risk of nest predation, and structural habitat features on nest-site selection, and reproductive investment and success of a northern population of American kestrels. I also utilized hydrogen isotope ratios in feathers to examine among-year settlement and examined the mechanisms responsible for variation in hydrogen-isotope values in the feathers of kestrels. Prey abundance, predation risk, and structural features of the nest environment influenced the timing of breeding, egg investment, and nestling growth. Hydrogen isotope ratios in feathers were related to body size and reproductive investment in the previous year. My study highlights the complexity of the ecology of nest-site selection and the need to study the processes driving hydrogen isotope variation in raptor feathers. |
