Home range and habitat use by the roadside hawk, Rupornis magnirostris (Gmelin, 1788) (Aves: Falcaniformes) in southeastern Brazil

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.