The European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is recognized, outside its native range, as an invasive species, and efforts to deter its nesting have generally been unsuccessful. Enhancing perceived risk at the nest site is a little‐explored route in developing a nest deterrent. Specifically, nest predation risk affects site selection, reproduction, antipredator behavior, and fitness in nesting birds. We questioned whether perceived predation risk as related to a snake model positioned inside a nest box, in striking form, moving, and present throughout the period of cavity site selection would induce European starlings to avoid or delay nest construction. We conducted our study on the 2,200‐ha National Aeronautics and Space Administration Plum Brook Station (PBS), Erie County, Ohio, USA. Our objectives were to examine nest initiation, clutch development, and hatching success by starlings relative to 4 nest‐box treatments: moving snake model, movement mechanism only, immobile snake model, and control (empty box). We applied treatments across 120 nest boxes on PBS (30 boxes/treatment) from 15 April through 17 June 2019. We observed no treatment effects on nest initiation or date of nest bowl formation. Starlings occupied (laid ≥1 egg) in 76% of nest boxes (moving snake model = 22 boxes, movement mechanism = 25 boxes, immobile snake model = 21 boxes, control = 23 boxes). We observed no effects of treatment on likelihood of starlings laying a clutch, date of first egg, clutch size, or hatching success. We suggest that starlings adapted to perceived risk because models, despite animacy, did not attack. Therefore, snake models, as developed herein, are ineffective starling nesting deterrents. Published 2021. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

中文翻译：

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考虑到直接巢穴捕食的风险增加，欧洲八哥巢穴的选择

欧洲star鸟（寻常的八哥））在其本土范围之外被认为是一种入侵物种，阻止其筑巢的努力通常没有成功。提高巢穴威慑力是开发巢穴威慑力的探索途径。具体地说，巢中的捕食风险会影响产地选择，繁殖，反捕食者的行为以及筑巢鸟类的适应度。我们质疑感知到的捕食风险是否与放置在巢箱内的蛇形模型（以醒目的形式，移动并在整个腔体位置选择期间存在）有关，是否会诱使欧洲八哥避免或推迟巢穴的建造。我们对美国俄亥俄州伊利县的2,200公顷国家航空航天局梅花溪站（PBS）进行了研究。我们的目标是检查窝的萌生，离合发育，相对于4种巢箱处理，八哥幼鸟的孵化成功率：移动蛇模型，仅移动机制，固定蛇模型和控制（空箱）。从2019年4月15日至6月17日，我们在PBS上的120个巢箱中进行了处理（每次处理30箱）。我们没有观察到对巢开始或巢碗形成日期的影响。ling鸟在76％的巢箱中占据（下蛋≥1个鸡蛋）（移动的蛇模型= 22箱，移动的机制= 25箱，固定的蛇模型= 21箱，对照组= 23箱）。我们没有观察到处理对八哥产卵的可能性，初生卵的日期，卵大小或孵化成功没有影响。我们建议star鸟适应感知的风险，因为尽管有生气，但模型并未发动攻击。因此，如本文所开发的蛇模型是无效的八哥筑巢阻吓剂。