Population Dynamics of the Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) at Rochester, Alberta

THE primary objectives of this paper are to describe the dynamics of a representative population of Red-tailed Hawks in central Alberta and to evaluate current population status and trend through a life equation. A number of studies of the Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) have been carried out in the temperate latitudes of the United States. Fitch et al. (1946) discussed the behavior and food habits of a Red-tail population in the foothills of the California Sierra Mountains. Orians and Kuhlman (1956) and Hagar (1957) described breeding populations of Red-tailed Hawks and Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus) in Wisconsin and New York. Species composition and nesting success of raptor populations, including Red-tails, was studied in Michigan and Wyoming by Craighead and Craighead (1956). To our knowledge, no detailed investigation of Redtailed Hawk populations on their northern breeding range has been published. The influences of biocides and changing land use on populations of avian predators is causing increasing concern (International Council for Bird Preservation, [1964]; Hickey, 1969). To assess the effects of such environmental changes on populations, rates of reproduction and survival must be known from different segments of a species' range.