De Wespendief Pernis apivorus in Havelte: het broedseizoen 1993

The nest of a Honey Buzzard was monitored from a hide on the ground and with a remote-control camera. Fourty hours on 5 days in July and 3 days in August were spent observing the nest. These data are supplemented with 20.35 observation hours on 4 days from the same territory in 1989. The female in 1993 was the same as in 1989; the male was replaced, however. Both sexes took part in incubation and feeding the nestlings, but the female was responsible for the largest part. Food provisioning was largely the task of the male (table 1). He followed a fixed route when leaving the nest. The female stayed at or near the nest for most of the nestling stage, even feeding the young when 30 days old. All identified prey items consisted of nests of wasps and bumblebees, the majority of which was brought to the nest around noon. Nest visits of the male became increasingly shorter in the course of the nestling stage, probably because of the vociferous begging of the young. As soon as the adult left the nest, the nestlings were silent again. No aggression between siblings was observed, each young wailing in turn to be fed. Fresh sprays of green leaves were added to the nest throughout the breeding season, with an upsurge in the late nestling stage. This was mostly done by the female (table 1). She collected the material near the nesting tree, not showing a preference for a particular tree species. The adults were quite silent near the nest.