Video surveillance of nesting birds /

The highly concealed nests of grassland birds make studies of their nesting activity difficult. Recently developed miniature video cameras and digital recorders placed near nests reveal new information about the hidden lives of these birds. This symposium volume, dealing with the use of miniature video cameras to study nesting birds, demonstrates how data obtained from video cameras provide insights on incubation behavior, nest attention, diurnal and nocturnal activity at the nest, and weather influences on nesting. More important, this camera technique provides a means to study nest predation, identify predators, observe defenses against predators, and analyze the temporal and spatial makeup of the predator community; its use is overturning many previous assumptions about nest predation. The papers are organized into four parts: "Synthesis/Overview" (three chapters), "Breeding Behavior" (six chapters), "Behavioral Responses to Predation/Predator Identification" (five chapters), and "Technology" (one chapter). This final chapter is important because it explains how to make and use relatively inexpensive cameras. This book is an essential reference for ornithologists planning research on ground- and shrub-nesting birds and one that should be added to the ornithological library bookshelf. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals/practitioners. R. L. Smith emeritus, West Virginia University