Habitat Model of Urban-Nesting Cooper's Hawks (Accipiter cooperii) in Southern Arizona

摘要

We developed a habitat model of urban-nesting Cooper's hawks (Accipiter cooperii) based on characteristics of nest sites in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona. We tested the model in three urban areas in southern Arizona. In Green Valley, the model correctly predicted expected occupancy at six of seven potential home ranges. However, we found no nest of Cooper's hawk at 4 and 16 sites in Casa Grande and Phoenix, respectively, with model-expected occupancy. No nest of Cooper's hawk was at any site in any of the three urban areas where our model predicted no occupancy. We speculate that high temperatures in the lower-elevation cities (Phoenix and Casa Grande) were beyond thermal tolerance of nesting Cooper's hawks.