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Site fidelity and home range variation during the breeding season of peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) in Yamal, Russia

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Abstract

Many different ecological factors affecting the size, use, and spatial configuration of home ranges have been investigated, yet the chronology of the breeding cycle has been relatively under studied. Here, we studied peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) to describe variation in home range within and between breeding seasons in the Yamal peninsula, a region of the Russian Arctic with a high breeding density of peregrines. We used satellite telemetry to investigate variation in home range at different stages of the breeding cycle during three breeding seasons (2009–2011). We fitted Argos satellite transmitters to 10 breeding peregrines (nine females and one male) and two male fledglings. All breeding females showed fidelity to the region of the southwestern Yamal peninsula, but they were not necessarily faithful to their specific breeding ranges with 33 % dispersing to new ranges up to 40 km away. The population of peregrines in our study area was relatively synchronous in their breeding chronology, with clutches initiated in close synchrony in early June despite the birds arriving on their breeding ranges ca. 3 weeks earlier. The average home range size for breeding females was 98 km2 (95 % Maximum Convex Polygon). Over the breeding season, the home range area utilized by females increased in the late nestling period and again after the chicks fledged. Expansion of the home range coincided with changes in behavior associated with parental care, resulting in greater activity and more time spent away from the nest area when the female began hunting to provision nestlings and fledglings.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi. We thank HE Mohammed Al Bowardi and HE Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak for their continued interest and support. Additional support was provided by Russian Academy of Sciences: Project # 12-P-4-1043 to VS and Project # 12-4-7-022-Arctic (Ural Branch) to AS, and by the Research Council of Norway, University of Tromsø: Project # 195738/V11 to VS. NL was funded by the Research Council of Norway through the IPY project “Arctic Predators” (www.arctic-predators.uit.no). We thank Takuchi Laptander and family, Victor Sidorov, Natalya Sokolova, Dorothee Ehrich, Ivan Fufachev, Olga Kulikova, Slava Osokin and Grisha Popov. Three anonymous reviewers greatly improved an earlier version of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Division Russian Academy of Sciences, 202-8 Marta Street, 620144, Yekaterinburg, Russia

    Vasiliy Sokolov

  2. Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, University of Tromsø, 9037, Tromsō, Norway

    Nicolas Lecomte

  3. Canada Research Chair in Polar and Boreal Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Moncton, Moncton, E1A 3E9, Canada

    Nicolas Lecomte

  4. Ecological Research Station of Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Division Russian Academy of Sciences, 21 Zelenaya Gorka, 629400, Labytnangi, Yamalo-Nenetski District, Russia

    Aleksandr Sokolov

  5. International Wildlife Consultants Ltd, PO Box 19, Carmarthen, SA33 5YL, UK

    Md. Lutfor Rahman & Andrew Dixon

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  1. Vasiliy Sokolov
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Correspondence to Andrew Dixon.

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Vasiliy Sokolov and Nicolas Lecomte have contributed equally to this work.

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Sokolov, V., Lecomte, N., Sokolov, A. et al. Site fidelity and home range variation during the breeding season of peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) in Yamal, Russia. Polar Biol 37, 1621–1631 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-014-1548-0

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