Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) Home Range and Habitat Selection in West Texas Author(s): Andrea E. Montalvo, Dean Ransom Jr. and Roel R. Lopez Source: Western North American Naturalist, 74(2):201-207. Published By: Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum, Brigham Young University DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3398/064.074.0205 URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.3398/064.074.0205 BioOne (www.bioone.org) is a nonprofit, online aggregation of core research in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. BioOne provides a sustainable online platform for over 170 journals and books published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses. Your use of this PDF, the BioOne Web site, and all posted and associated content indicates your acceptance of BioOne’s Terms of Use, available at www.bioone.org/page/terms_of_use. Usage of BioOne content is strictly limited to personal, educational, and non-commercial use. Commercial inquiries or rights and permissions requests should be directed to the individual publisher as copyright holder. BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research. Western North American Naturalist 74(2), © 2014, pp. 201–207 GREATER ROADRUNNER (GEOCOCCYX CALIFORNIANUS) HOME RANGE AND HABITAT SELECTION IN WEST TEXAS Andrea E. Montalvo1,2, Dean Ransom Jr.1, and Roel R. Lopez1 ABSTRACT.—We studied Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) habitat use during spring and summer 2011 on the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch in the Red Rolling Plains of west Texas. We captured 9 roadrunners (1 male, 8 females) and fitted each with a 10-g backpack-style radio-transmitter. We relocated roadrunners 2–4 times per week from February to August. Roadrunners used a mean minimum convex polygon home range of 43.0 ha, a 50% core range of 11.9 ha, and 33% overlap between adjacent home ranges. Home ranges were approximately half the size of those reported in a recent study of roadrunners in north Texas. Habitat selection ratios showed that roadrunners selected for ridge and grassland vegetation types and avoided bare ground and flatland vegetation types at both first- and second- but not third-order levels of selection. Similar results were documented for roadrunners in north Texas. RESUMEN.—Estudiamos el uso de hábitat del corre caminos (Geococcyx californianus) en el Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch situado en los Planos Rolling en el oeste de Texas durante la primavera y verano de 2011. Capturáramos 9 pájaros (un varón y 8 hembras) y a cada uno colocamos une radio de transmisión (estilo mochila) de 10 gramos. Los corres caminos fueron relocalizados 2–4 veces por semana desde febrero a agosto. Corre caminos usaron une convexo promedio mínimo polígono de área domiciliar de 43.0 ha, una área principal de 50% y 11.9 ha y une 33% entre las dos áreas de domicilio. Las áreas domiciliares eran aproximadamente la mitad del tamaño de los reportados en un estudio semejante en el norte de Texas. La variación entre la área domiciliar era grande y resulto en gran parte por las diferen- cias en el porcentaje de terreno nudo. Selección de habitación mostro una selección para elevación y pradera tipos de vegetación, y evitando terreno nudo y plano en la primera y segunda orden pero no en la tercera. Resultados similares fueron documentados para corres caminos in el norte de Texas. The Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx cali- observational in nature (Bryant 1916, Calder fornianus, hereafter roadrunner) is a common and Schmidt-Nielsen 1967, Folse 1974) and widely occurring, ground-dwelling, predatory the reported results are highly variable likely bird in the semiarid desert rangelands of the because of differences in local resource avail- southwestern USA. The species’ geographic ability, geography, rainfall, soil type, and land range extends northeastward to Louisiana, Ar - use (Ford 1983). Recently, Kelley et al. (2011) kansas, southern Kansas, and southeastern Mis - utilized radiotelemetry to obtain estimates of souri (Hughes 1996, Maxon 2005). Such a large survival, home range, and habitat selection of geographic distribution encompasses a great roadrunners in a fragmented agricultural land- diversity of vegetation types, though roadrunner scape. This method offered greater resolution habitat typically consists of areas containing than previous estimates obtained by observa- no more than 50% brush of approximately 2–3 tional methods, given the ability to locate road - m in height (Folse 1974). Roadrunners begin runners despite their secretive and elusive na - pairing up for nesting season as early as Feb- ture (Bolger et al. 1991, Maxon 2005). ruary and begin their first clutch as early as Our objectives were to better understand April, with a second as late as September. Nests roadrunner home-range size, home-range over- are built in small mottes of shrubs that are lap, and habitat selection during the nesting approximately 1–3 m from the ground. Young season and to compare our results to existing fledge as quickly as 12–14 days later (Folse data reported in the scientific literature. To do 1974). this, we calculated home ranges (minimum con- The ecology of roadrunners, including home- vex polygon and kernel distribution), percent range requirements, is not well documented. home-range overlap, and habitat selection ratios Existing literature is somewhat dated and for a roadrunner population in west Texas. 1Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. 2E-mail: [email protected] 201 202 WESTERN NORTH AMERICAN NATURALIST [Volume 74 METHODS road in the areas where roadrunners were most frequently observed. During handling of each Study Area trapped bird, we removed approximately 10 We collected data from February to August downy feathers for sex verification through PCR 2011 on the 1902-ha Rolling Plains Quail Re - DNA analysis (Santamaria et al. 2010). We next search Ranch (RPQRR; 32°02፱16፳ N, 100°32፱ fitted the bird with a 10-g backpack-style radio- 50፳ E) in the Rolling Plains ecological region transmitter, which weighed approximately 3% (Gould 1975) of west Texas, approximately 16 of the bird’s body weight, and then immedi- km west of Roby, Texas, in Fisher County. The ately released the bird at the capture site. RPQRR contains pockets of mixed grass prairie, We relocated roadrunners 2–4 times per Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields, week via triangulation of compass bearings from food plots, and dense stands of native honey 3–5 positions. We calculated locations using mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), shinnery oak the program LOCATE III (Pacer Computer (Quercus havardii), and red berry juniper ( Juni - Software, Tatamagouche, Canada), utilizing the perus pinchotii). An unbroken series of mesa- maximum likelihood estimator and estimated ridge slopes are prominent topographical fea- standard deviation settings. We used a thresh- tures that spanned the entire north–south axis old location error ellipse of <1 ha to ensure of the RPQRR. These geologic uplifts are char- the strength of the triangulation (Saltz and acterized by shallow, gravelly, reddish brown Alkon 1985) and thereby decrease the likeli- soils and quartizitic pebbles over conglomer- hood of type II error when determining habi- ate rock or sandstone (USGS 1972). Ridge tat selection (White and Garrott 1986, Nams slopes are vegetated by large dense mottes of 1989, Saltz 1994). If a marked roadrunner was shrubs, whereas ridgetops support small, sparse observed, we recorded the location with a hand- patches of shrubs and mixed grasses, largely held GPS and included the resulting coordi- native Texas wintergrass (Nassella leucotricha) nates in the home-range estimation. and silver bluestem (Bothriochloa laguroides). Home-Range and Overlap Calculations Land management practices on RPQRR include prescribed burns, mechanical shrub We calculated 95% minimum convex poly- control, and aerial and ground application of gons (MCP) with the program Home Range herbicide. Land development consists of gravel Tools for ArcGIS (Ontario Ministry of Natural and dirt roads, barbed wire fences, water Resources, Centre for Northern Forest Ecosys- troughs, and electrical poles. The surrounding tems, Thunder Bay, Canada) and used the fixed private land uses include natural pastures, mean selection style when individuals had CRP fields, and cotton fields left fallow after ≥10 relocations. We also used Home Range harvest. During this study, average monthly Tools to calculate the kernel density estima- temperatures registered up to 2 °C higher tor’s (KDE) 95% home range and 50% core than normal, and annual precipitation was only utilization distribution isopleths for those birds 6.4 cm compared to the area’s 5-year average with ≥30 locations (Rodgers et al. 2007, Kel- of 29.9 cm (NOAA 2011). ley et al. 2011). Calculation settings included a fixed-kernel estimator and least-squares cross- Capture Techniques and Triangulation validation to estimate the smoothing parameter. We used 2 methods to capture roadrunners. We calculated kernel density estimator home The first method was a modified bal-chatri range for those animals with <30 locations, de - (Berger and Mueller 1959, Lake et al. 2002, spite that number of locations being fewer than Vilella and Hengstenberg 2006) that consisted the suggested sample number (Rodgers et al. of a caged mouse (Mus musculus) surrounded 2007, Kelley et al. 2011) for comparison with the by monofilament nooses on plywood boards previously calculated home-range estimates. that were nailed into the ground. The modi - We calculated an overlap index for MCPs fications addressed the roadrunner’s unique because the MCP is more inclusive and does ground-level hunting style (Kelley et al. 2011). not traditionally limit individuals because of an The second technique was a box trap that had insufficient number of relocations (Seaman et al. a caged mouse in the back as bait (Vehrencamp 1999).