We compared land cover of kite detection points to randomly located points at fine and broad spatial scales in a portion of the species' breeding range in the southern Great Plains, USA. In this study, we used a distance sampling approach to estimate multi-scale resource selection for a highly mobile raptor, Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis), based on data collected from line transect surveys combined with plotting tools in a geographic information system. This information can be difficult to obtain for species that are highly mobile or occupy large home ranges. Conservationists need spatially explicit information on habitat use to develop effective management strategies for priority species. Species can also exhibit affinities that are unique to portions within their larger distribution. Wildlife use and select habitat at multiple scales, sometimes leading to conflicting interpretations of the importance of various habitat features analyzed at different scales. Our results emphasize the importance of spatial heterogeneity in presenting opportunities for subordinate predators to coexist in a landscape with important superpredators. Overall, our study demonstrates how landscape structure and superior predators shapes predation risk for subordinate predators. Nest survival declined with proximity to superpredator nesting sites. Mississippi Kite selection was not related to food abundance but could be explained by the presence of superpredators (i.e., hawks and owls) selecting riparian woodland for their nests. Compared to random conditions, kites selected nest sites with high tree density and more closed canopy in the surrounding area. In this landscape, kites favored upland trees and shrubs, avoiding their more typical riparian forest association elsewhere in the species' range. All three species nested in trees in a grassland landscape. We assessed the importance of local and landscape vegetation, food abundance, and predation risk on nest site selection and nest survival in a subordinate raptor (Mississippi Kite Ictinia mississippiensis) nesting in proximity to two superpredators, Red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and Great horned owl (Bubo virginianus). This takes on added complexity when a predator is faced with the challenge of avoiding fellow predators. Selecting nesting habitat that minimizes predation risk but maximizes foraging success is one of the most important decisions in avian life history.
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