2009 Northern Goshawk Territory Monitoring and Surveys for New Territories in Northern Minnesota

摘要

We monitored breeding activity in Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) territories in northern Minnesota during the 2009 breeding season and compared these data with monitoring results from 2003-2009 to examine 7-year averages and trends. Monitoring goshawk territories in Minnesota has been a collaborative, interagency effort. Through this partnership, 84 territories were monitored in 2009. Data were entered into a goshawk territory monitoring database which tracks breeding activity in all known territories since the early 1990s. Incorporating goshawk habitat requirements into forest management is a challenge for land management agencies in Minnesota. The goshawk is a Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) in Minnesota's State Wildlife Action Plan (MN DNR 2006), and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) has recommended that the state status of the goshawk be elevated to Species of Special Concern. Concern for the goshawk is based on the species' need for relatively large, contiguous patches of mature and old upland forest within certain spatial areas within their large home range (approximately 16,000 acres; Bosakowski and Speiser 1994, Woodbridge and Detrich 1994, Boal et al, 2003).