Urban Raptor Communities: Why Some Raptors and Not Others Occupy Urban Environments

Abstract

We live in a world that is experiencing rapid landscape-level changes due to human activities. Indeed, the argument can be made that, from a wildlife perspective, the only form of habitat that is increasing is what we would call “urban habitat.” Despite the negative implications of this, some wildlife species are attracted to, and may even flourish in, urban settings. This is due primarily to urbanization resulting in an altered landscape that, often unintentionally, provides resources that function as components of habitat.¹ This was largely overlooked by biologists until Steve Emlen’s 1974 publication examining bird communities in and near Tucson, Arizona.² Subsequent to Emlen’s work, interest in the phenomenon of urban wildlife grew, and countless articles have since documented ornithological research in urban areas.³