Madeleine Barham
Doctoral student Madeleine Barham is working to shed light on the movement ecology of white-tailed hawks.
“The white-tailed hawk is one of North America’s least-known birds of prey, and there are many aspects of their life history and population demographics that have yet to be investigated,” Barham said.
A common raptor in Central and South America, the northern distribution of white-tailed hawks in North America historically included the American Southwest. However, landscape fire suppression seen at the end of the 19th century is thought to have resulted in range contraction.
Currently, only one of the three sub-species of white-tailed hawks extends northward into Texas and is relegated to the Coastal Bend area of South Texas.
“Our large gaps in knowledge of the species and lack of understanding of its population demographics here in Texas has driven this species to be listed as state-threatened,” Barham said.
To bridge this knowledge gap, Barham will collect information on white-tailed hawk movement ecology, home range, habitat and territory use, juvenile dispersal and survival, as well as seasonal movements across multiple field sites in South Texas.
Barham said nestling hawks will be hand captured at approximately 40 days old. During that time, morphological measurements and weight will be taken and the bird will be fitted with an approved aluminum leg band from the U.S. Geological Service Bird Banding Lab.
A GSM transmitter with a custom-fitted backpack harness constructed of Teflon ribbon will then be attached to the bird, and the hawk will be released.
“Upon successful completion of the study, we will have deployed 30 transmitters on white-tailed hawks in Texas with the majority deployed on fledgling hawks,” Barham said. “This will be the first assessment of white-tailed hawk movement ecology and will greatly contribute to our knowledge of the species as well as provide knowledge that can be used towards conservation efforts moving forward.”
This study is conducted under all necessary state (SPR-0201-137) and federal (USGS Federal Banding Permit 22801) permitting. The project is covered under Texas Tech University’s Animal Use SOP 043.
