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Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences

High Prevalence Of Leucocytozoon Parasites In Nestling Northern Goshawks (Accipiter Gentilis) In The Northern Great Basin, U.S.A., Michelle I. Jeffries, Robert A. Miller, Michelle D. Laskowski, Jay D. Carlisle Sep 2015

High Prevalence Of Leucocytozoon Parasites In Nestling Northern Goshawks (Accipiter Gentilis) In The Northern Great Basin, U.S.A., Michelle I. Jeffries, Robert A. Miller, Michelle D. Laskowski, Jay D. Carlisle

Robert Miller

The Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) is currently listed as a sensitive species by the U.S.D.A. Forest Service. Previous research in our study area, the South Hills of the Minidoka Ranger District of the Sawtooth National Forest, Idaho, identified possible signs of parasite infections among the banded adult and nestling goshawks, which could influence their survival and breeding success. Therefore, we sought to quantify the prevalence and intensity of Leucocytozoon parasites among a sample of nestling goshawks in the South Hills during the 2012 breeding season. We sampled 27 nestlings from 12 nests for Leucocytozoon parasites by examining blood smears. All …


Annual Variation In Autumn Migration Phenology And Energetic Condition At A Stopover Site In The Western United States, Robert A. Miller, Jay D. Carlisle, Neil Paprocki, Gregory S. Kaltenecker, Julie A. Heath Jan 2015

Annual Variation In Autumn Migration Phenology And Energetic Condition At A Stopover Site In The Western United States, Robert A. Miller, Jay D. Carlisle, Neil Paprocki, Gregory S. Kaltenecker, Julie A. Heath

Robert Miller

Climate change is having a dramatic effect on many migratory species. Changes in climate may lead to changes in food availability or other proximate cues that affect migratory behavior. We used 13 years (2000–2012) of data on songbird banding and raptor migration counts and captures during autumn migration in the intermountain West to evaluate whether regional temperature or precipitation or hemispheric climate indices predicted autumn migratory timing and energetic condition. We examined overall trends and evaluated the effects of diet and migratory distance on phenology and conditional responses. For the 13-year study period, no temperature, precipitation, or climate index trends …


Predicting Nesting Habitat Of Northern Goshawks In Mixed Aspen-Lodgepole Pine Forests In A High-Elevation Shrub-Steppe Dominated Landscape., Robert A. Miller, Jay D. Carlisle, Marc J. Bechard, Dena Santini Apr 2013

Predicting Nesting Habitat Of Northern Goshawks In Mixed Aspen-Lodgepole Pine Forests In A High-Elevation Shrub-Steppe Dominated Landscape., Robert A. Miller, Jay D. Carlisle, Marc J. Bechard, Dena Santini

Robert Miller

We developed a habitat suitability model for predicting nest locations of breeding Northern Goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) in the high-elevation mixed forest and shrub-steppe habitat of south-central Idaho, USA. We used elevation, slope, aspect, ruggedness, distance-to-water, canopy cover, and individual bands of Landsat imagery as predictors for known nest locations with logistic regression. We found goshawks prefer to nest in gently-sloping, east-facing, non-rugged areas of dense aspen and lodgepole pine forests with low reflectance in green (0.53 - 0.61 μm) wavelengths during the breeding season. We used the model results to classify our 43,169 hectare study area into nesting suitability categories: …


Melanistic Adult Male Northern Harrier Wintering In Idaho, Robert A. Miller, Neil Paprocki, Elizabeth H. Urban Dec 2012

Melanistic Adult Male Northern Harrier Wintering In Idaho, Robert A. Miller, Neil Paprocki, Elizabeth H. Urban

Robert Miller

Field observation of a Northern Harrier with rare aberrant plumage.