Hniezdna početnosť a biotopové vzťahy holuba plúžika (Columba oenas) v západnej časti Cerovej vrchoviny (J Slovensko) / Breeding abundance and habitat associations of the Stock Dove (Columba oenas) in the western part of the Cerová vrchovina Mts. (S Slovakia)

Abstract

To assess Stock Dove breeding abundance and habitat associations, we mapped calling males in the western part of the Cerová vrchovina Mts. (61 km2 ) during 2016. Oak, Hornbeam and Black Locust dominated in the studied forests (36.6 km2 ) while Beech stands aged >60 yrs covered only 3.7% of the forests. Calling males were recorded in 50–125 yrs-old forest stands. When considering calling male records as surrogates of breeding pairs, breeding density was 1.88 pairs/100 ha of the total forest area. The local density varied between 0.05 and 2.17 pairs/ha. The local density of calling males was positively associated with stand age and the proportion of Beech trees in the forest stand. These predictors accounted for 50.0% of variance in Stock Dove density with the proportion of Beech trees explaining ca. twice as much variance as did stand age. A breeding population for the study area in 2016 was estimated to be 69 pairs.

Keywords

• breeding survey
• habitat selection
• stock dove
• breeding density
• forest age
• slovakia