CHANGING NEST PLACEMENT OF HAWAIIAN COMMON AMAKIHI DURING THE BREEDING CYCLE

We studied the nesting behavior of the Common Amakihi (Hemignathus vir ens) from 1970-1981 on the island of Hawaii to determine if the specie s alters nest placement over a protracted 9-month breeding season. Bir ds preferentially chose the southwest quadrant of trees in which to bu ild nests during all phases of the breeding season. It appeared that a mbient temperature (Ta) was a contributing factor to differential nest placement between early and late phases of the annual breeding cycle. When Ta is low during the early (December-March) breeding period, Com mon Amakihi selected exposed nesting locations that benefitted them wi th maximum solar insolation. However, in the later phase of the breedi ng period (April-July) when Ta was much higher, renesting birds select ed nest sites deeper in the canopy in significantly taller trees. This is one of the few documented examples in which a species changes loca tion of nest during a breeding season, thus allowing exploitation of t emporally differing microclimatic conditions.