Home-Range Size and Examples of Post-Nesting Movements for Adult Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) in Boreal Sweden

Abstract We studied home-range size using 15 GPS-tracked adult Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) in nine different territories, two in 2011 and those two as well as seven others in 2012, in northern Sweden. Home ranges were represented by 50 and 95% minimum convex polygons (MCPs) and 50, 80 and 95% kernel density estimates (KDE). In 2012, 95% MCPs ranged from 100–525 km2 for males (n  =  8), and 60–605 km2 for females (n  =  7). Mean home-range sizes for the eagles in our study were among the largest reported. Moreover, we found an inverse relationship between home-range size and the percent of clear-cuts within the range. Together these suggest that eagles in Sweden may compensate for low availability of hunting areas, e.g., lower proportion of clear-cuts in their range, by expanding their range. Some eagles displayed different forms of post-nesting movements (i.e., movements not related to breeding) during the normal breeding season in addition to the ranging within their home ranges: (i) long-distance ...