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Determination
of the hunting area and rate of activity of the Bonelli's eagle
(Hieraaetus fasciatus) in the Natural Park Sant Llorenç de Munt i
l'Obac
The
objectives of the present study are to know the hunting area, to define
the habitats more used and to determine the rate of activity of the pair
of Bonelli'ss eagles present in the Park of Sant Llorenç del Munt i
l'Obac to know their ecology and to establish conservation measures. For
it, the radiotracking of the male of the pair present in the Park has
been made throughout 56 days, beginning one hour after the sunrise until
the sunset, during years 2004 and 2005. The
global area of hunting used by the male has been of 115.9 Km2 (MPC). The
hunting area described by the Kernel of 99% and by Kernel 90% have been
of 51.4 Km2 and 10.9 Km2 respectively. The more used habitats have been
the Mediterranean scrub and the forests of pinus haleppensis. The
daily rate of activity throughout the period of study follows an
unimodal pattern, where the hours of greater activity are the central
hours of the day, between the 12 and the 14 in solar time, and those of
smaller activity are during the first and last hours of the day. The
pair of Bonelli'ss eagles studied, in spite of having the nesting area
within the Park, uses specially the areas outside to hunt, since it is
there where they have the most optimal habitats and their preys are more
abundant. It is also in these external areas, outside the Park and
relatively moved away, where the eagles sleep and where they remain
during long seasons specially in the interbreeding period. In this
sense, to establish measures of conservation in these external areas of
the Park (maintenance of the habitats adapted for its preys, correction
of electrical lines and arrangement of the territory) is essential to
maintain this species. 1.
Department of Animal Biology. University of Barcelona
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