Nest Site Selection and Productivity of Suburban Red-Shouldered Hawks in Southern Ohio

Causes of Mortality and Failure at Suburban Red-Shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) Nests1

“…In central Wisconsin along the Wisconsin River we found an average distance of 0.79 km (n=4, range 0.76 km-0.84 km). Dykstra et al (2000) found the nearest neighbor distance between nests in SW Ohio to average only 0.47 km, (n= 8) with the closest nests only 0.25 km apart. Cooper and Cuthrell (2000) found the average distance between nests was 1.5 km (±0.26 km) for state forests in Northern Lower Michigan.…”

“…Until recently, this tolerance to large-scale human activity had not been reported for the eastern subspecies of the Red-shouldered Hawk until Dykstra et al (2000) found 51 nests in a suburban area near Cincinnati, Ohio. The suburban Red-shouldered Hawks were similar in both productivity and nest site selection to rural nests.…”

“…Examples of habitat types for northern and eastern United States include old-growth or mature forests of: beech-maple-basswood hemlock-beech northern mesic southern mesic conifer-hardwood southern-hardwood temperate deciduous yellow birch-maple-oak eastern hardwood mixed-hardwood-conifer river floodplain river bottom swamp hardwoods yellow birch-hemlock-beech (Bent 1937, Hands et al 1989, Crocoll 1994 Several studies have measured breeding season habitat characteristics throughout eastern United States (Bednarz and Dinsmore 1982, Titus and Mosher 1987, Crocoll and Parker 1989, Dykstra et al, 2000, Cuthrell and Cooper 2001. Riparian areas of bottomland hardwoods forests were reported by many researchers (Stewart 1949, Henny et al 1973, Bednarz and Dinsmore 1981, Kimmel 1981, Stravers 1989 along with upland stands of deciduous or mixed deciduous/conifer forests (Titus and Mosher 1981, Armstrong and Euler 1982, Crocoll and Parker 1989, McLeod et al 2000.…”

“…Red-shouldered Hawks selected nest trees that were taller and had a greater dbh when compared to a random sample of trees in the general area (Titus and Mosher 1987, Dykstra et al 2000, Cuthrell and Cooper 2001. Sixty-three percent of the Red-shouldered Hawk nest trees were greater than 40 cm dbh (16 in), whereas less than one percent of the random trees were this large (Titus and Mosher 1987).…”

“…Cooper and Cuthrell (2000) reported a territorial reoccupancy average of 80% (range 78%-81%) for State Forests in Northern Lower Michigan for 1999 & 2000. In southwest Ohio, Dykstra et al (2000) reported an average reoccupancy rate of 63% (range 61%-66%) for 1998 & 1999.…”