doi: 10.1111/jav.01497 49 1–9 JOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY Articles An assessment of tree availability as a possible cause of population declines in scavenging raptors Corinne J. Kendall, Daniel I. Rubenstein, Pamela L. Slater and Ara Monadjem C. J. Kendall (http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4429-4496) (
[email protected]) and P. L. Slater, North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC, USA. CJK also at: North Carolina Zoo, Asheboro, NC. – D. I. Rubenstein, Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ, USA. – A. Monadjem, Savanna Research Center, Dept of Biological Sciences, Univ. of Swaziland, Kwaluseni, Swaziland and Mammal Research Inst., Dept of Zoology and Entomology, Univ. of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. Journal of Avian Biology Lack of suitable nesting trees is an increasingly common issue for avian conservation 2018: e01497 given rampant habitat and tree destruction around the world. In the African savannah, doi: 10.1111/jav.01497 habitat loss and particularly tree damage caused by elephants have been suggested as possible factors in the decline of large bird species. Given the recent declines of Subject Editor: Ronald Ydenberg vultures and other scavenging raptors, it is critical to understand if nest availability Editor-in-Chief: Thomas Alerstam is a limiting factor for these threatened populations. Loss of woodland, partially due Accepted 28 August 2017 to elephant populations, has been reported for the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem. Data on characteristics of trees used for nesting were collected for white-backed, lappet- faced, white-headed vulture, and tawny eagle nests in Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. Nest tree characteristics were compared with the distribution of a random subsample of trees to assess nest preferences and determine suitability of available trees.