Nest use patterns and nest site characteristics of Common Buzzards on the Tokachi Plain, Hokkaido, Japan

Abstract

We investigated nest use patterns and nest site characteristics of Common Buzzards Buteo buteo on the Tokachi Plain, Hokkaido, Japan. Thirty-three nest sites were located during the study period (2007-2011). Buzzards commonly used old nests built by other raptor species. Japanese Larch Larix kaempferi was frequently used by buzzards as a nesting tree. Nest trees were located farther from the forest edge compared with non-nesting sites, but other aspects of forest structure did not differ between nesting and non-nesting sites. Our results suggest their weak nest site preferences enable buzzards to reuse other species’nests, and to shift their main nesting habitat from Emperor Oak Quercus dentata to Japanese Larch forests.