Nest-Site Habitat Selected by Woodland Hawks in the Central Appalachians

Titus, Kimberly; Mosher, James

We quantitatively describe the nest-site habitat selected by Broad-winged Hawks (Buteo platypterus), Red-shouldered Hawks (B. lineatus), Red-tailed Hawks (B. jamaicensis), and Cooper's Hawks (Accipiter cooperii), emphasizing differences among species and between each species and the surrounding forest habitat. We subjected 53 nest sites and 100 randomly selected sites to an intensive habitat analysis based upon the James and Shugart (1970) techniques. White oak (Quercus alba) was the most common nest tree. Distance to water, percentage nest height, distance to the nearest forest opening, basal area, and dbh of the nest tree were important discriminating variables between the hawk species. Compared with the random sample of the available forest area, Broad-winged Hawks nested closer to water and to forest openings. Redshouldered Hawks consistently nested near water and in large trees in stands of mature forests. Red-tailed Hawks nested higher in trees than did the other species, on or near the top of ridges, and far from water and forest openings. Cooper's Hawks nested proportionally higher in trees than did Broad-winged and Red-shouldered hawks and were associated with mature forest with a well-developed understory and ground cover layer. A discriminant function analysis revealed that each species appears to select rather specific nesting areas, as characterized by the proximity of the site to various physiographic features and the structure of the nest tree. Received 21 April 1980, accepted 23 September 1980.

Nest-Site Habitat Selected by Woodland Hawks in the Central Appalachians

Series