Nest box use and productivity of Great Crested Flycatchers in prescribed-burned longleaf pine forests

Managing for the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis) on federal lands requires burning large tracts of mature pine forests every 3- 5 yr. Many cavity trees that serve as potential nest sites for primary and secondary hole-nesting birds are destroyed by fire. We assessed the efficac y of a nest box program for the Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitu s) at Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge, an area intensively mana ged for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. During 1996-1998, we installed and monito red 330 (30 in each of 11 sites) nest boxes in mature (>60 yr) longleaf pin e (Pinus palustris) tracts that were burned either in April-June (warm seas on) or December-March (cool season). Prescribed-burned, sites were nearly d evoid of snags; we estimated only 0.8/ ha in cool-season burns and 1.7/ha i n warm-season burns. Great Crested Flycatchers built nests in 20% of the bo xes available to them. Clutch sizes were larger in warm-season burns than i n cool-season burns, but fledging success (fledglings/nest hatching greater than or equal to 1 egg) was lower. Twenty-two of 59 Great Crested Flycatch er nests were depredated and the proportions in each burn class were simila r. We recommend the installation of nest boxes for Great Crested Flycatcher s in prescribed-burned pine forests, but additional research is needed in t hese habitats on nest depredation rates and causes.