Nesting Ecology of Attwater's Prairie-Chicken

Attwater's prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus cupido attwateri) populations have declined since 1970 and there is little information on their life history. Seventy-one radio-marked female Attwater's prairie-chickens (n = 54 nests) and 9 incidentally found nests provided information on nesting ecology between 1977 and 1981. The majority (74%) of initial nests were started between 12 and 26 March and renesting continued into mid-May. Nest success of initial nests ranged from 19 to 64% annually. Renesting success varied from 0 to 51% and did not occur in 2 of 5 years. Obstruction of vision (OV) values were greater (P = 0.04) at successful (x̄ = 2.46) than at unsuccessful (x̄ = 2.16) nests. Hen survival during the nesting period was not different (P = 0.89) among years but test power was low. Survival averaged 36% (SE = 0.08) during spring and could have been biased low by radio transmitters. We hypothesize that population declines are the result of low female survival during nesting and/or limited renesting success.