Factors influencing the occurrence of Eleonora's falcon Falco eleonorae breeding colonies on Greek islands

Abstract

During the breeding seasons of 2004-2006, the population of Eleonora's falcon Falco eleonorae was censused on > 900 islands in the Ionian and the Aegean Seas, Greece. However, only one third of the islands hosted breeding pairs. With our study, we aim at understanding the factors that influence the occurrence of the species' breeding colonies on Greek islands. Thus, we developed generalised linear models for all candidate explanatory variables that according to previous studies are believed to influence the occurrence of the species. We identified the best set of models based on differences in the Akaike Information Criterion, and subsequently, we applied model averaging to estimate model average coefficients for those explanatory variables included in the best set of models. According to our results based on presence-absence data from approximately 370 islands, the presence of breeding colonies is related to the coastline geomorphology, where steep cliffs with ledges are preferred. These geomorphologic characteristics are considered to offer protection from wave action and terrestrial intruders, as well as visual privacy to breeding pairs, and they have previously been associated with nest-site selection. In addition, breeding colonies are more likely to be found on islands close to freshwater bodies and to other neighbouring colonies. Freshwater bodies constitute important foraging areas and provide a means to maintain the falcons' plumage in good condition. The clustered distribution pattern of the breeding colonies is probably due to the process of first-time breeders' settlement and/or colony connectivity. Finally, in view of these preliminary results, we recommend actions to be taken in future studies in order to better understand the role of these factors during the species' breeding period. © Wildlife Biology, NKV.