We studied nesting habitat selection of the endangered
non-migratory Osprey Pandion haliaetus population of
the Canary Islands and evaluated the effect of human
expansion in recent decades. Compared with randomly
selected potential nest-sites, Osprey nests were more
frequently found on taller, southwest-facing cliffs, char-
acterized by lower human pressure and closer to Yel-
low-legged Gull Larus michahellis colonies and Barbary
Falcon Falco pelegrinoides breeding sites. Furthermore,
changes in some breeding habitat features have been
detected in recent decades. According to our predictive
models, large areas of suitable habitat are available but
unoccupied in the Canaries, and human activities are probably limiting the settlement and dispersion of new
pairs.Peer reviewe
