Common Cuckoo home ranges are larger in the breeding season than in the non-breeding season and in regions of sparse forest cover

Heather M. Williams*, Mikkel Willemoes, Raymond H. G. Klaassen, Roine Strandberg, Kasper Thorup

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)
131 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Knowledge of species' habitat requirements can be gained from studying individual variation in home range size, under the assumption that larger home ranges reflect increased resource needs or decreased habitat quality. We used satellite telemetry to delineate home ranges of South Scandinavian Common Cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) throughout their annual cycle. Annual stage (breeding or non-breeding period) and percentage of forest cover were good predictors of home range size. Average breeding season home ranges were ten times as large as those of non-breeding home ranges, suggesting strong temporal variation in the birds' resource needs, and perhaps lower habitat quality in the breeding range compared to the African part of their annual range. Furthermore, although the Cuckoos rarely chose a home range with complete forest cover, we found a significant negative relationship between forest cover and home range area. This suggests that heterogeneous landscapes which include some dense forest cover constitute important habitat for Cuckoos, and that the continuing trend of forest loss in tropical Africa could reduce habitat quality for the Cuckoo in the non-breeding season.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)461-469
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Ornithology
Volume157
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr-2016

Keywords

  • Cuculus canorus
  • Common Cuckoo
  • Home range
  • Migration
  • Forest loss
  • Satellite telemetry
  • HABITAT SELECTION
  • SPACE-USE
  • POPULATION
  • SIZE

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