Habitat Preferences of Lesser Spotted Eagle Clanga pomarina Brehm, 1831 in Belarusian Polesie

摘要

The main factors affecting the habitat preferences of Lesser Spotted Eagle in the Belarusian part of Polesie have been described. Such data can be used in the development of measures for the protection of this species. We identified the optimal nesting conditions at two levels: within areas of 2 km diameter around the nests (using GIS) (eagle's home range), and within an immediate radius of 200 meters around the nests, where all the vegetation was described. The most important factors in the selection of a home range were the distance to the foraging habitat and the competitive relationships (the distance to the nearest neighbouring Lesser Spotted Eagle nest). Regarding the selection of a nesting site, the main factors were: the size of the nesting tree (tree diameter 66.5 +/- 35 cm), the distance between the nest and the hunting ground (0.5 +/- 0.2 km), the presence of forest glades and the stand density.