La Tour du Valat

Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

Titre :	Use of territory and habitat selection of breeding Kestrel Falco tinnunculus
Auteurs :	N Boileau, Auteur ; N Delelis, Auteur ; Claire Hoede, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	Alauda (74 janvier 1, 2006)
Article en page(s) :	251-264
Résumé :	Hunting ground and habitat selection of breeding Kestrels were studied on 26 pairs breeding in marshlands of Western France. Data were collected both by direct observations and radio-tracking over 1500 hours in 2000-2004. The mean size of hunting areas of males is 1,8 km2 (0,5-3,8 km2; and 0,5-0,6 km2 for two females) with a lot of overlap between males hunting grounds (60 %). All habitats are used by hunting Kestrels (see Tab. 1) although crop fields tend to be used less. Hunting habitat selection is linked to mammal abundance (measured by standardized method in spring) but vegetation height is also an essential factor for hunting efficiency and choice of hunting habitat. No relations were found between parental effort or breeding success and size of hunting territory; the only significant relation identified was between breeding success and proportion of grasslands within hunting territory.

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