Macrohabitat selection by nesting northern goshawks: implications for managing eastern forests-Abstract
Thomas Bosakowski and Robert Speiser

Macrohabitat data from 16 northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) nest sites and 70 random sites in the New York-New Jersey Highlands were analyzed. Variables included distances to human habitation, paved road, water, wetlands, and forest openings, elevation, and slope, slope location, and slope aspect. Univariate tests revealed that macrohabitat was important to nest site selection in goshawks since several variables were significantly different than random sites (disturbance due to human habitation, paved roads, and elevation). In addition, slope aspect data revealed that nesting on southern aspects (SW, S, SE) was avoided. A full-model discriminant function analysis (DFA) was used to determine the extent of overlap between random sites and nest sites. The DFA was able to correctly classify 69% of nest sites and 79% of random sites, further demonstrating that macrohabitat plays an important role in nest site selection. A management model using stepwise DFA revealed that distance to paved road and elevation were the most important discriminating variables. These variables indicated that the goshawk may be an area-sensitive species, since smaller forest tracts bounded by paved roads were not used for nesting.