Lishman and Nal • MAGELLANIC PLOVER HABITAT SELECTION 
493 
500 -i 
450 - 
400 - 
350 • 
£ 300 - 
0 ) 
C 250 
TO 
Q 200 
Lakeshore Vegetation Freshwater channel 
FIG. 3. Mean and 95% confidence intervals of distance to three features (endorheic lakeshore. vegetation, and 
freshwater channel) of Magellanic Plover,v comparing used (gray bars) and randomly-selected available territories 
(open bars). 
was second with a weight of 27%, and percent 
clay cover was present in all of the five most 
parsimonious models (Tabic 3, AA1C, < 4). 
Percent clay had the highest importance value 
(I"'/ = 0.73) with cobble as the next most 
important value (Vvt7 = 0.37). Percent day was 
lower at used than available sites, and percent 
cobble was slightly higher (median. 23-75% 
quartiles) used: clay = 0 (0—3.5), eobble = 2 
(0-8); unused: clay = 42.5 (1.5-92.5). and cobble 
= o (0-0). 
Nest Success and Habitat—We found 20 nests 
in 2006 and four in 2007. Average clutch size was 
1.2 eggs (19 nests contained a single egg, 6 con¬ 
tained 2 eggs). Seventeen nests were monitored 
repeatedly in 2006 by visiting every 2 to 8 days. 
Seventy percent of monitored nests were success¬ 
ful with one or both eggs hatching (12/17). Four 
nests were depredated and one nest was trampled, 
presumably bv grazing livestock, which frequent¬ 
'd the aeolian lunettes. The Mayfield estimate 
of daily survival was 0.975 (// = 17) with nest 
success over the 24-day incubation equal to 
55.0%. Twenty-six chicks (17 in 2006, 9 in 
2007) were banded and followed to fledging (11 
fledged of 26 banded, 42.3%). Chicks fledged 
between 28 and 35 days after hatching. One chick 
banded in 2006 bred in 2007 on a neighboring 
lake 12 km distant. One banded chick was 
observed at the Rio Gallegos mudflats, 30 km 
from the breeding site, three months after it left 
the nest area. Successful and unsuccessful nests 
did not differ in proximity to lakeshore, vegeta¬ 
tion, freshwater channel, or in microsite percent 
cover variables (Wilks' Lambda, P > 0.05). 
DISCUSSION 
The breeding range of the Magellanic Plover 
extends over 7 of latitude in southern South 
America. The major breeding area appears to be 
centered in southeastern Santa Cruz Province 
based on our observations and those of others 
(Jehl 1975, Ferrari et ai. 2008). We found pairs 
with evidence of breeding on about a third of the 
