TY  - JOUR
AB  - The selection of a nest site is crucial for successful reproduction of birds. Animals which re-use or occupy nest sites constructed by other species often have limited choice. Little is known about the criteria of nest-stealing species to choose suitable nesting sites and habitats. Here, we analyze breeding-site selection of an obligatory “nest-cleptoparasite”, the Amur Falcon 'Falco amurensis'. We collected data on nest sites at Muraviovka Park in the Russian Far East, where the species breeds exclusively in nests of the Eurasian Magpie 'Pica pica'. We sampled 117 Eurasian Magpie nests, 38 of which were occupied by Amur Falcons. Nest-specific variables were assessed, and a recently developed habitat classification map was used to derive landscape metrics. We found that Amur Falcons chose a wide range of nesting sites, but significantly preferred nests with a domed roof. Breeding pairs of Eurasian Hobby 'Falco subbuteo' and Eurasian Magpie were often found to breed near the nest in about the same distance as neighboring Amur Falcon pairs. Additionally, the occurrence of the species was positively associated with bare soil cover, forest cover, and shrub patches within their home range and negatively with the distance to wetlands. Areas of wetlands and fallow land might be used for foraging since Amur Falcons mostly depend on an insect diet. Additionally, we found that rarely burned habitats were preferred. Overall, the effect of landscape variables on the choice of actual nest sites appeared to be rather small. We used different classification methods to predict the probability of occurrence, of which the 'Random forest' method showed the highest accuracy. The areas determined as suitable habitat showed a high concordance with the actual nest locations. We conclude that Amur Falcons prefer to occupy newly built (domed) nests to ensure high nest quality, as well as nests surrounded by available feeding habitats.
AU  - Frommhold, Martin
AU  - Heim, Arend
AU  - Barabanov, Mikhail
AU  - Maier, Franziska
AU  - Mühle, Ralf-Udo
AU  - Smirenski, Sergei M.
AU  - Heim, Wieland
DA  - 2019-12-02
DO  - 10.17879/43089512496
KW  - cleptoparasitism
KW  - fire
KW  - habitat use
KW  - machine learning
KW  - magpie
KW  - nest-site selection
KW  - random forest
LA  - eng
N1  - Ecology and Evolution 9 (2019) 24, 14430-14441
N1  - Finanziert über die DEAL-Vereinbarung mit Wiley 2019-2022.
PY  - 2019-12-02
TI  - Breeding habitat and nest-site selection by an obligatory "nest-cleptoparasite", the Amur Falcon 'Falco amurensis'
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hbz:6-43069513909
Y2  - 2024-12-26T04:49:35
ER  -