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Abstract:
Nest Box Orientation Impacts Songbird Nest Success in Savannah, Georgia
Many environmental factors, such as temperature and wind direction, influence nest success in songbirds. These factors influence the direction in which birds orient their nests, but vary between regions based on seasonal weather patterns. Songbirds exhibit preferences for specific directional orientations of nest boxes placed by humans. The campus of Islands High School in Savannah, GA borders a fragmented forest, grassy athletic fields with 3 water retention ponds, and has a forest-edge along the back perimeter. Nest boxes were placed around the campus spaced 24 meters apart. We observed a significant difference in the number of eggs laid per nest between cardinal and intermediate directions (one-way ANOVA, p=0.0071). Conservation efforts to help passerine populations can better be established with the knowledge this study provides.