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Spatial distribution and the value of green spaces for urban red-tailed hawks

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Abstract

Raptors increasingly live and nest successfully in urban areas. In the urban landscape of Hartford, CT, red-tailed hawks established home ranges in large green spaces such as parks, golf courses, and cemeteries but also nested successfully in the commercial district of downtown and in densely built urban and suburban neighborhoods. Data collected from 11 radio-tagged breeding adult hawks indicated that year-round home ranges averaged 107.7 ha, much smaller than home ranges reported for hawks inhabiting rural areas. Most hawk home ranges had multiple core areas that were usually associated with favored perches or larger patches of ‘usable’ green space, defined as patches ≥0.25 ha in size, and home range size was positively associated with larger usable green space patches in core areas. Most nests were located in the largest core area and were within a larger patch of green space within the largest core area. Rather than just the amount or size of green space patches, the value of urban green spaces for these hawks likely also varies with the number and proximity of suitable perches such as buildings or tall trees, types and density of prey, and amount of human activity in and adjacent to these spaces. Territoriality and intraspecific competition may also influence home range size and dispersion of red-tailed hawks nesting in Hartford. In this urban area, mortality due to ingestion of rodenticides and collisions with vehicles affected hawk reproductive success.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the rest of T.C.U.B.S.T. team for their assistance with this project, particularly C Wells for providing squirrel data, FM Thomas and NE Sell for assisting with field work, and SM Black for GIS analyses. This study was funded by a Trinity College Faculty Research Grant (to JLM) and by summer grants from Trinity College’s Interdisciplinary Science Program to IGWG and KEP.

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Correspondence to Joan L. Morrison.

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All animal handling protocols were approved by the Trinity College Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (Protocols # B-49, B-50).

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Morrison, J.L., Gottlieb, I.G.W. & Pias, K.E. Spatial distribution and the value of green spaces for urban red-tailed hawks. Urban Ecosyst 19, 1373–1388 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-016-0554-0

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