Patterns of nest reuse in forest raptors and their effects on reproductive output

Abstract

AbstractThe presence of old nest structures can be an influential resource in reuse patterns and reproductive output for some birds. We used 15‐year territorial occupancy data referring to the booted eagle Aquila pennata (a trans‐Saharan migrant) and the common buzzard Buteo buteo (a sedentary species in southeastern Spain) to analyse old nest effects in territorial settlement patterns (new territories, new establishments in old territories and reoccupancies), to describe the patterns of nest building versus nest reuse and to test whether nest building is costly in terms of current reproductive output. The results indicated that the rates of reoccupancy and new establishments in old territories were higher than the rates of creating new territories for both booted eagles (74.13, 23.35 and 2.52%, respectively) and common buzzards (58.25, 38.84 and 2.91%, respectively). When breeding pairs settled in old territories, we observed a noticeably lower pattern of nest building than nest reuse both in booted eagles (10.03 vs. 89.97%) and common buzzards (8.00 vs. 92.00%). The nest‐building rate by booted eagles was significantly lower in reoccupancies than in new establishments in old territories. Reproductive output for each species was not increased by nest reuse, although breeding success and productivity were significantly higher when newly established booted eagles constructed new nests than when reusing old nests. Our findings provides an interesting view on how forest raptors use old nests as important resources, probably taking them as location cues for nesting site selection and suggesting that unused nest sites should be left undisturbed since they could attract breeding raptor pairs in future years.