![]() ![]() We analyzed the mean distance from the nest, the maximum reached distances, and the travelled distances (daily and hourly) during the first two years of dispersal and compared them. Juveniles left the parental breeding area at the end of their first summer and performed wandering movements throughout the Iberian Peninsula, returning to the parental breeding area the following year, repeating the same pattern until they settled in their first breeding area. Between 20, 44 juvenile red kites (Milvus milvus) from the Spanish breeding population were tagged using GPS telemetry to study their dispersal. The juvenile dispersal of raptors is a crucial stage that stretches from parental independence to the establishment of the first breeding area. These data indicate that over‐winter conservation action for kites, for example supplementary feeding with livestock carrion, should focus on open lowland landscapes throughout the species' winter range. Our results confirm that land use and elevation are key influences of kite space use in southwestern European over‐wintering populations, but additional demographic intrinsic factors also affect ranging parameters. Six of 13 confirmed deaths were due to anthropogenic activity 5 kites were poisoned. During the study 20 kites died or the transmitter malfunctioned. Older kites that arrived late to the wintering areas had larger home ranges than those that arrived early or on time. As predicted, ranges were smaller in areas with greater proportional open and lowland land cover however, there was no effect of urban areas. Kites wintering in the Pyrenees had larger home ranges and core areas but moved less than those wintering in Italy and the Iberian Peninsula. We tracked 36 kites by global positioning system‐global system for mobile communications (GPS‐GSM) telemetry over 70 individual winters between 20. ![]() Controlling for the effects of age and sex, we compared results in 3 over‐wintering regions: the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, and the Pyrenean region of southern France. Specifically, we tested whether winter range sizes (95% kernel density estimator home ranges and 50% KDE core areas) would be smaller in areas with greater proportional open and urban land cover within kite ranges. We predicted that space use in over‐wintering areas would be linked to the proportional amount of open, lowland, or urban land cover they contain at the land-scape level. We also explore aspects of the migration process in terms of geographical patterns in the location of over‐wintering grounds, including time spent and distances traveled within them. Here, we contribute to filling this knowledge gap by investigating landscape‐level associations of kites in their southwestern European winter ranges between 20. For some raptor species, such as the red kite (Milvus milvus kite), existing data focus on breeding populations or movements en route to wintering areas without considering movements within the wintering areas. Understanding intrinsic and extrinsic influences of movement behavior in migratory species, with the potential to recommend management actions for species of conservation concern, requires data from across the species' range. Refuse tips and muladares (dumps for dead livestock) and their management during the winter are important for the conservation of the species. We suggest that the use of carrion is influenced not only by its abundance but by its availability to Red Kites. farmed Rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus, poultry Gallus sp.) in the diet were correlated with a decrease in the trophic diversity which suggested an active choice of the food, at least in years with low vole densities. High frequencies of “small” carrion (e.g. Common Voles Microtus arvalis, despite being a very abundant prey on the northern plateau, did not appear in the diet in high numbers, but their frequency was related to the proportion of land occupied by nonirrigated (cereal) crops. Red Kites showed a clear difference in diet between the two plateaux, with a higher consumption of carrion on the northern plateau and of game species on the southern plateau. The diet composition and its relationship with food abundance and habitat characteristics were studied in two areas (northern and southern plateaux) with different food availability and habitat composition. This paper presents data on the winter diet of the Red Kite Milvus milvus in the Iberian Peninsula.
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