We measured the effects of various demographic, environmental and temporal factors on Red Kite space use, including: sex, age, % open land cover, % closed land cover, % urban land cover, % lowland (less than 500 metres above sea-level), winter region (the Iberian Peninsula, Italy or the Pyrenees), arrival date and winter duration. We quantified space use using three metrics: 1) total distance travelled by kites during the winter period, i.e., ‘distance travelled’, 2) winter home ranges (calculated using point kernel density estimators which generate a utilisation distribution, a probability density distribution in 2-dimensional space, using the standard metric of 95%), i.e., ‘home ranges’ and 3) winter core areas (KDEs using a 50% UD), i.e., ‘core areas’.
The black triangle shows the approximate nest and tagging locations of kites used in this study.
1).įigure 1 Kernel density estimators showing highly used areas by 36 Red Kites tagged with global positioning system-global system for mobile communication (GPS-GSM) transmitters wintering in the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, and the Pyrenees, 2015–2020. All of our birds were from a tri-border area located between Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic (Fig. In total, we obtained data for 70 individual kite winters as most birds survived more than one year allowing for data to be collected across multiple winters. We equipped 36 Red Kites with solar-powered satellite telemetry backpacks and monitored their geographic positions throughout winter between 2015-2020. To answer these questions, we decided to explore which factors affect the movement behaviour of Red Kites during winter. So, what makes a good winter range and how do we measure this? Furthermore, winter ranges need to have enough food available to last both resident and migratory populations until the following spring. Winter can be a critical period for any migratory species, relying on sufficient food resources within their winter ranges to recover food reserves lost during the autumn migration. However, we know relatively little about how the species behaves during the winter months. 2010) and what the species eats (Davis & Davis 1981). We know a lot about the species’ breeding ecology (Pfeiffer & Meyburg 2009), the impacts of poisoning (Smart et al.
The Red Kite has been a focus of much research. Southern European populations are resident due to milder winter conditions. Northern European populations tend to be migratory, conducting short-distance migration southwards to the Mediterranean. The species is native to Europe, recently being observed occurring in scattered populations across North Africa. Kites regularly utilise urban environments and have even been known to feed directly from back gardens (Orros & Fellowes 2015). They are a large, facultative scavenger often feeding on rodents, rabbits and carrion. Until recently, the species was threatened with extinction across its range due to loss of suitable habitats coupled with direct and indirect poisoning. The Red Kite Milvus milvus is one of my favourites, distinguishable by its fork-shaped tail and characteristic calls. There are 56 raptor and owl species across Europe. They also play important roles benefitting humans, especially those that have scavenging tendencies, by removing carcasses and reducing the transmission of zoonotic diseases. Within ecological networks, they often regulate ecosystem processes due to their position within food chains, occupy nearly every continent on the planet and are diverse in their morphological form, ecological function and behaviour. Raptors (species in the families: Accipitridae, Falconidae, Pandionidae, Sagittariidae, Cathartidae and Cariamidae) and owls ( Strigidae and Tytonidae) fascinate me. Such studies can directly benefit biodiversity conservation and management, for example, by advising planning for new renewable energy infrastructure such as wind farms. The field of movement ecology has advanced rapidly in recent years, affording us the ability to study how species, including those that range widely, travel across landscapes and large geographical areas. Knowledge of natural and human-related factors that affect a species’ movement behaviour is essential when studying animal ecology. Panter, C.T., Literák, I., Raab, R., Tolhurst, B.A. Age, landscape, and arrival date explaining ranging behaviour of wintering red kites in southwest Europe.
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