We pooled recapture data for each year to estimate survival using a Cormack-Jolly-Seber (CJS) model implemented in program MARK (version 5.1; White & Burnham 1999). Our main interest was in survival between hatchlings born in artificial and natural habitats,rather than in estimating recapture rates. We developed a set of candidate models that held recapture rates constant or differed between nest types and that tested for constant survival, time-dependent survival,differences in survival between nest types or interactions between these variables. We derived an estimate of lack of fit for the global (i.e. most parameterized) model in our candidate set using program RELEASE implemented in MARK. There was some evidence that the global model did not fit the data well (v2 = 18Æ48, d.f. = 12, P = 0Æ10), so we adjusted our models for overdispersion (based on the variance inflation factor, cˆ = 1Æ54) using quasi-likelihoodAIC (QAICc) values prior to model selection (Lebreton et al.1992; Burnham & Anderson 1998). QAICc values were used to select the best approximating (hereafter, best) model for the data, based on the principles of parsimony and trade-offs between under- and overfittingmodels (Burnham & Anderson 1998). The best-supported models are those that make up the top 90% of Akaike weights and have relative deviations from the best model of less than two (i.e.DQAICc < 2; Burnham & Anderson 1998). We used the highestranking candidate model to estimate survival and compared annual survival between hatchlings from artificial vs. natural nests over time using a paired t-test. Survival estimates incorporate the probabilities of dying and emigrating (termed apparent survival), which in our study equates to local persistence in the study area (White & Burnham 1999)