{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/107869"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/107869","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Aspects of municipalities associated with occupancy of Chimney Swifts and Common Nighthawks in Illinois","abstract":"Aerial insectivorous birds like the Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) and Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) are experiencing population declines across North America. While causes of declines are unknown, habitat availability is likely a contributing factor. Both species breed in urban areas. Chimney Swifts historically nested in tree cavities but now primarily nest in masonry chimneys, while nighthawks nest on both gravel rooftops and bare ground in grasslands and woodlands. Suitable chimneys and gravel rooftops are becoming less common as building practices change, and the loss of available nest sites may be driving declines. To understand factors of decline, I conducted surveys in municipalities of varying size throughout Illinois and examined the influence of various habitat and landscape factors (e.g., land cover surrounding points, areal extent of cities, and age distribution of buildings) on Chimney Swift and Common Nighthawk occupancy. Chimney Swifts occupied 97% of municipalities (n = 126), 20% of natural areas (n = 10), and 72.5% of all sampled points (n = 476), but abundance varied considerably. Swift abundance was greatest at the center of small, isolated municipalities where uncapped chimneys tended to be most prevalent. I detected swifts at all points with at least five uncapped chimneys (n = 60), but only 21% of points with no uncapped chimneys (n = 270). Common Nighthawks occupied 16.0% of municipalities, none of the natural areas, and 5.5% of sampled points. Nighthawk occupancy was most dependent on high-intensity development and proportion of older buildings, possibly related to gravel rooftop availability. My results suggest that although Chimney Swifts and Common Nighthawks are still widespread, contemporary building practices may continue to drive population declines and management should focus on approaches for providing and maintaining suitable nesting sites.","abstract_html":"Aerial insectivorous birds like the Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) and Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) are experiencing population declines across North America. While causes of declines are unknown, habitat availability is likely a contributing factor. Both species breed in urban areas. Chimney Swifts historically nested in tree cavities but now primarily nest in masonry chimneys, while nighthawks nest on both gravel rooftops and bare ground in grasslands and woodlands. Suitable chimneys and gravel rooftops are becoming less common as building practices change, and the loss of available nest sites may be driving declines. To understand factors of decline, I conducted surveys in municipalities of varying size throughout Illinois and examined the influence of various habitat and landscape factors (e.g., land cover surrounding points, areal extent of cities, and age distribution of buildings) on Chimney Swift and Common Nighthawk occupancy. Chimney Swifts occupied 97% of municipalities (n = 126), 20% of natural areas (n = 10), and 72.5% of all sampled points (n = 476), but abundance varied considerably. Swift abundance was greatest at the center of small, isolated municipalities where uncapped chimneys tended to be most prevalent. I detected swifts at all points with at least five uncapped chimneys (n = 60), but only 21% of points with no uncapped chimneys (n = 270). Common Nighthawks occupied 16.0% of municipalities, none of the natural areas, and 5.5% of sampled points. Nighthawk occupancy was most dependent on high-intensity development and proportion of older buildings, possibly related to gravel rooftop availability. My results suggest that although Chimney Swifts and Common Nighthawks are still widespread, contemporary building practices may continue to drive population declines and management should focus on approaches for providing and maintaining suitable nesting sites.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hurd, Maureen L."],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Natural Res & Env Sciences","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Benson, T.J.","Ward, Mike","Stodola, Kirk"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-08-26T21:54:14Z","date_published":"2020-08-26T21:54:14Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:47Z","subjects":["Occupancy","Chimney Swift"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2020 Maureen Hurd"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/107869","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Benson, T.J.","Ward, Mike","Stodola, Kirk"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Hurd, Maureen L."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2020-08-26T21:54:14Z","2020-04-09","2020-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Natural Res & Env Sciences"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Occupancy","Chimney Swift"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2020 Maureen Hurd"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/107869"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Aerial insectivorous birds like the Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) and Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) are experiencing population declines across North America. While causes of declines are unknown, habitat availability is likely a contributing factor. Both species breed in urban areas. Chimney Swifts historically nested in tree cavities but now primarily nest in masonry chimneys, while nighthawks nest on both gravel rooftops and bare ground in grasslands and woodlands. Suitable chimneys and gravel rooftops are becoming less common as building practices change, and the loss of available nest sites may be driving declines. To understand factors of decline, I conducted surveys in municipalities of varying size throughout Illinois and examined the influence of various habitat and landscape factors (e.g., land cover surrounding points, areal extent of cities, and age distribution of buildings) on Chimney Swift and Common Nighthawk occupancy. Chimney Swifts occupied 97% of municipalities (n = 126), 20% of natural areas (n = 10), and 72.5% of all sampled points (n = 476), but abundance varied considerably. Swift abundance was greatest at the center of small, isolated municipalities where uncapped chimneys tended to be most prevalent. I detected swifts at all points with at least five uncapped chimneys (n = 60), but only 21% of points with no uncapped chimneys (n = 270). Common Nighthawks occupied 16.0% of municipalities, none of the natural areas, and 5.5% of sampled points. Nighthawk occupancy was most dependent on high-intensity development and proportion of older buildings, possibly related to gravel rooftop availability. My results suggest that although Chimney Swifts and Common Nighthawks are still widespread, contemporary building practices may continue to drive population declines and management should focus on approaches for providing and maintaining suitable nesting sites.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. 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Both species breed in urban areas. Chimney Swifts historically nested in tree cavities but now primarily nest in masonry chimneys, while nighthawks nest on both gravel rooftops and bare ground in grasslands and woodlands. Suitable chimneys and gravel rooftops are becoming less common as building practices change, and the loss of available nest sites may be driving declines. To understand factors of decline, I conducted surveys in municipalities of varying size throughout Illinois and examined the influence of various habitat and landscape factors (e.g., land cover surrounding points, areal extent of cities, and age distribution of buildings) on Chimney Swift and Common Nighthawk occupancy. Chimney Swifts occupied 97% of municipalities (n = 126), 20% of natural areas (n = 10), and 72.5% of all sampled points (n = 476), but abundance varied considerably. Swift abundance was greatest at the center of small, isolated municipalities where uncapped chimneys tended to be most prevalent. I detected swifts at all points with at least five uncapped chimneys (n = 60), but only 21% of points with no uncapped chimneys (n = 270). Common Nighthawks occupied 16.0% of municipalities, none of the natural areas, and 5.5% of sampled points. Nighthawk occupancy was most dependent on high-intensity development and proportion of older buildings, possibly related to gravel rooftop availability. My results suggest that although Chimney Swifts and Common Nighthawks are still widespread, contemporary building practices may continue to drive population declines and management should focus on approaches for providing and maintaining suitable nesting sites.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2020-08-25 without embargo terms","The student, Maureen Hurd, accepted the attached license on 2020-04-06 at 17:09.","The student, Maureen Hurd, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2020-04-06 at 17:22.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2020-04-09 at 10:14.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #14941 on 2020-08-25 at 17:06:19","Made available in DSpace on 2020-08-26T21:54:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 HURD-THESIS-2020.pdf: 857122 bytes, checksum: 54a041250551ee9f9f155bf0880cbb97 (MD5) Hurd_Maureen_thesis2020.docx: 934366 bytes, checksum: 0109bb19ed992f894e31712036e0060d (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4209 bytes, checksum: 6b015f7da773e7b7dc8c12302b3d721f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2020-04-09"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/107869"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2020 Maureen Hurd"],"dc:subject":["Occupancy","Chimney Swift"],"dc:title":["Aspects of municipalities associated with occupancy of Chimney Swifts and Common Nighthawks in Illinois"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Natural Res & Env Sciences"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.S."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:47Z"}