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Abstract
Although most raptor species are found mainly in the tropics, information on their home range and spatial requirements in the Neotropics is still scarce. In this study, we used radio telemetry to evaluate the home range and the habitat use and selection of five Roadside hawks, Rupornis magnirostris (Gmelin, 1788) in a heterogeneous landscape in southeastern Brazil. The average home range size calculated using the adaptive kernel method (95% isopleth) was 126.1 ha (47.4–266.7 ha), but using the minimum convex polygon method (95% isopleth) it was 143.54 ha (32.6–382.3 ha). The roadside hawk explored a wide variety of habitats, most of them opportunistically, as suggested in the literature. Despite this, habitat quality could influence home range size and promote habitat selection. The observation of habitat use as expected, as well as the relatively small home range size, could be related to the generalist/opportunistic behaviour of the roadside hawk.
Acknowledgements
We thank the Instituto Florestal do Estado de São Paulo (IF-SP) for allowing us to conduct the study at EEI. We are also grateful to CEMAVE/ICMBIO and its staff for the bands and capture permits (process no. 1236/2). Honório C. Fachin and the EEI staff allowed and facilitated our fieldwork. Angel Leal and Juarez Cabral helped with fieldwork and the Sociedade Ecologica Verde e Amarelo (SELVA) provided logistical support. Financial support was provided by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo—FAPESP (grant no. 05/55341-0), Fundação o Boticário de Proteção à Natureza, Idea Wild, Neotropical Grassland Conservancy. F.M.B. was supported by an undergraduate research fellowship (process no. 06/60182-1) and M.A.M.G. and R.J.P.G. were supported by doctoral scholarships from FAPESP (process nos 04/13820-7 and 05/01927-4). Anonymous referees and Louise Allcock made valuable suggestions for the manuscript. This is publication no. 42 of the project “Ecologia dos Cerrados de Itirapina”.