Abstract
The vegetation types of home ranges and the activity of Stonechats Saxicola torquata were investigated in a native shrub-grass land during their breeding season in eastern Hokkaido, Japan. They made 69% of nests in the vegetation type 1 (patches of tall plants mixed with low grasses). More than 70 % of their home range was covered by type 1 and type 2 (tall plants are scattered uniformly in low grasses). Two pairs and one male out of three pairs studied used type 1 more than expected during all breeding periods and one pair and one male also used type 2 in the incubation period and the fledgling period. Two males used type 3 (grove of Salix) and one male type 5 (tall plants grow densely) during the incubation and the fledgling periods respectively, while the uses of type 4 (low grasses) was low in all individuals. Type 1 and type 2 preferred by Stonechats as habitats may provide perches to hunt insects on the ground of open area. The feature of habitats in this study areas was similar to those in other regions.
