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Structure characteristics of natural nests and its implication to artificial nest frame design for Ciconia boyciana

WEI Yi-qing, CUI Guo-fa   

  1. (College of Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China)
  • Online:2014-12-18 Published:2014-12-18

Abstract:

Artificial nest can improve the breeding success of birds in the field, and it has been proved to be more effective to endangered species. We surveyed the structure characteristics of natural nest and the status of the use of artificial nests for oriental white stork, Ciconia boyciana, in Honghe National Nature Reserve, Heilongjiang Province. Differences were investigated among the structure characteristics of the used and  unused artificial nests, and natural nests based on one-way ANOVA. It was observed that significant differences in the diameter of nest branch, the vertical angle between nest branch, the height of the jointthe height of the nest above ground exited in  different nest types. On account of the structure characteristics of the natural nests of C. boyciana, the suitable diameter of nest pillar for artificial nest frame should be 15.0-25.0 cm with the height of 5.0-12.0 m, which would be better if they were constructed by some acidresistant materials, e.g. cement. The number of nest stands should be 3-4 individuals with the diameter of 9.0-12.0 cm, the vertical angle of 45°-60°, and the length of 90.0-140.0 cm.