Post-Fledging Habitat Selection by the Slender-billed Parakeet (Enicognathus leptorhynchus) in a Fragmented Agricultural Landscape of Southern Chile

Abstract

Abstract. Despite the importance of the post-fledging period in avian population dynamics, little is known about habitat use during this life stage. We examined habitat selection by radio-tracked juvenile Slender-billed Parakeets (Enicognathus leptorhynchus) at multiple spatial scales in a fragmented agricultural landscape of southern Chile. Using home ranges versus study area (home-range selection) and locations versus combined home range (habitat-type selection), we based spatial analyses of habitat selection on the population level. Slender-billed Parakeets made similar habitat choices across the hierarchical levels examined, except for riparian and native second-growth forests, which they avoided at the level of overall home-range selection but used in proportion to availability at the level of habitat-type selection. Farmland and pastures with high densities of scattered mature trees were the only habitats positively selected at multiple spatial scales, adding to the increasing amount of literature h...