Editorial Type:
Article Category: Brief Report
 | 
Online Publication Date: 29 Jul 2021

Home Range and Movement Pattern of a Tailless Black Eagle in Taiwan: A Special Case of Noninvasive Study by Community Science

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Page Range: 644 – 648
DOI: 10.3356/JRR-20-107
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ABSTRACT

A secretive and cautious raptor, the Black Eagle (Ictinaetus malaiensis) is challenging to study. Its highly specialized foraging behavior makes it difficult to capture an individual for tracking. However, a tailless eagle provided an opportunity to describe the home range and movements of one bird for 3 yr from 2013 to 2016. A total of 43 independent photo records were provided by a bird photographers' community. The eagle regularly moved between summering and wintering habitats north and south of Taipei City, Taiwan; home range sizes were estimated as 54.1 and 47.1 km2, respectively. This noninvasive case study provides the first estimates of home range size and movement patterns for the Black Eagle, and highlights the contribution of community science to research on endangered raptors.

RESUMEN

Área de Campeo y Patrón de Movimiento de un Individuo de Ictinaetus Malaiensis en TaiwÁn: Un Caso Especial de un Estudio No Invasivo de Ciencia Comunitaria

Ictinaetus malaiensis es un especie esquiva, cautelosa y difícil de estudiar. Su comportamiento de alimentación altamente especializado hace difícil que se pueda capturar un individuo para seguirlo. Sin embargo, un individuo de I. malaiensis, identificable por la ausencia de plumas timoneras, proporcionó una oportunidad para describir su área de campeo y sus movimientos durante tres años, desde 2013 a 2016. Un total de 43 registros fotográficos independientes fueron aportados por un grupo de fotógrafos de aves. Este individuo se movió regularmente entre hábitats de veraneo e invernada ubicados al norte y sur de la Ciudad de Taipei, Taiwán; los tamaños del área de campeo fueron estimados en 54.1 y 47.1 km2, respectivamente. Este caso de estudio no invasivo permitió evaluar por primera vez el área de campeo y los patrones de movimiento para la especie, al mismo tiempo que destaca el aporte de la ciencia ciudadana a la investigación de rapaces en peligro.

[Traducción del equipo editorial]

Copyright: © 2021 The Raptor Research Foundation, Inc. 2021
Figure 1.
Figure 1.

This tailless Black Eagle (left; photographed by Chuan-Hsian Chuang, 3 August 2015) differed from a normal one (right, photographed by Wen-Horn Lin), enabling it to be distinguished even from a great distance.


Figure 2.
Figure 2.

Locations and home range of the tailless Black Eagle near Taipei City, Taiwan, in 2013 (n = 1 location), 2014 (n = 3 locations), 2015 (n = 11 locations), and 2016 (n = 28 locations).


Figure 3.
Figure 3.

The latitudinal movement pattern of the tailless Black Eagle from 2013 to 2016.


Contributor Notes

Email address: lizard.dna@gmail.com

Associate Editor: Christopher W. Briggs

Received: 28 Aug 2020
Accepted: 04 Jan 2021
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