April 2002
Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge

A White Ibis chick.
Most White Ibis nests contain three to four eggs/chicks but the range is from two to five.
They nest in Sawgrass, Pond Apple Trees, or willow trees.
Nest initiation ranges from January through September.
Birds that nest during the dry season, October-May, have an easier time finding food for their young due to lower water levels in
the marshes and the swamps.
Boat-tailed Grackles, Quiscalus major, were often common in the wading bird colonies and would poke holes in wading bird eggs
to get an easy meal.  Therefore our presence in the colonies made the nests more vulnerable and we had to be careful about staying
in the colonies too long
JD was testing the hypothesis that there was a statistically significant difference in reproductive success between early nesters and
late nesters