Individual differences of two sympatric kestrels in terms of their hunting strategy, habitat and prey selection - A comparative study
Movement ecology has been recently proposed as a new paradigm to encompass a broad range of scientific approaches and it is currently considered a unified framework to study the movement of organisms. Simultaneously, the study of animal movement has experienced a massive revolution due to the technological advances in tracking free-range animals such as miniaturization of devices, high temporal and spatial resolution and the development of new sensors. As a result, the long-term tracking of specific individuals has shown that individuals from the same population are not as ecologically equivalent as traditionally assumed, e.g. in terms of prey and habitat selection. To our knowledge, there have not been any attempts to study individual specialization from the perspective of movement ecology in raptors. The aim of this thesis is to assess how movement patterns differ between a specialist falcon, lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni), and a generalist one, common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). At the same time, we would like to elucidate if individuals have some degree of specialization. We hypothesize that lesser kestrel specialism will be reflected in its movement ecology, conversely for common kestrel. Hence, lesser kestrel range of movement patterns will be narrower and individual differences will be smaller than those of common kestrel. In order to achieve these goals, individuals from the two species are being monitorized in areas where they breed in sympatry and information about energy expenditure, prey selection, habitat use and hunting strategy will be analysed.