Nest site selection
There was a significant species difference in whether a wasp nest was found near the nest (Fisher’s exact test, p < 0.001, Fig. 4a). Nests were built near a wasp nest more often in red-cheeked cordon-bleus (80%, 12 of 15 nests) than in blue-capped cordon-bleus (4.7%, two of 43 nests). Blue-capped cordon-bleus tended to use weaver nests (23.3%, 10 of 43 nests) more often than red-cheeked cordon-bleus (6.7%, one of 15 nests), although it was not statistically significant (Fisher’s exact test, p = 0.257; Fig. 4b). The only weaver nest used by the red-cheeked cordon-bleus was accompanied by a wasp nest (Fig. 2c).
As far as I observed, there seemed to be no clear difference between the two cordon-bleus in their preference for nesting sites—the distribution of nest locations overlapped between the two species (Fig. 3). Further, there were no significant species differences in the types of nested plants and the height of the nest positions. Both species mainly nested on the Acacia /Acacia -like trees (> 80%; 39 of 43 nests in blue-capped, 13 of 15 nests in red-cheeked) and occasionally on other shrubs (two of 43 nests in blue-capped, zero of 15 nests in red-cheeked) and broad-leaved trees (two of 43 nests in blue-capped, two of 15 nests in red-cheeked). There was no significant difference in the proportion (Chi-square test: χ2 = 1.933, df = 2, p = 0.3803). The height of the nest position was also not significantly different between species (blue-capped: median±SD = 255.5±72.8 cm, red-cheeked: 250±72.0 cm; Student’s t-test: t = 0.119, p = 0.906).