Day-to-Day Variation in Nest Attentiveness of White-Rumped Sandpipers

We studied the nest attentiveness of six female White-rumped Sandpipers (Calidris fuscicollis), a species with uniparental care which incubates in the continuous daylight of the arctic summer. We used correlation and multiple regression analyses to determine how well day-to-day variation in recess time/day, number of trips/day, and average trip length/day could be explained by date, concurrent weather, behavior on the previous day, and weather on the previous day. Both previous and concurrent weather were important predictors of incubation behavior, while date and previous behavior were not. We therefore conclude that incubation behavior on a given day is not simply a function of current conditions. Behavior appears at least to integrate the effects of both present weather and weather on the previous day.