Nest-site Selection Of Scaly-sided Merganser In Changbai Mountain Range

Natural cavity is a breeding and hatching place used by cavity-nesting birds.Scaly-sided Merganser(Mergus squamatus) keep nesting in tree strictly.So we seeked the wild nests of the Scaly-sided Merganser at several forestry farms of Songjianghe Forestry Bureau from May to June in2009and2010.After climbing77trees,we newly found10natural cavities used as nests by Scaly-sided Merganser(Mergus squamatus).The Mann-Whitney U test showed that there was obvious difference among the Diameter at breast hight. Depth of the cavity. Hight of the cavity. Position of the cavity on the tree. Diameter of the cavity opening. Diameter at the bottom. Cavity opening direction to the nearest river.(P<0.05)The principal component analysis of cavity shows that:Nesting tree constitute the main Part of the first Principal components.The principal component analysis of nest site shows that:Water constitute the main Part of the first principal components which is the factor affected the nest selection of Scaly-sided Merganser.