Lunch & Learn Series: American Goshawk Breeding Ecology and Microclimate

For HMA’s September 2025 Lunch & Learn, we welcomed Jessy Wilson, a master’s student studying raptor biology at Boise State University. She presented preliminary results from her master’s thesis research, in which she evaluates nest microclimate as a potential driver of breeding success for American Goshawks in the northern Great Basin.

This goshawk population is unique in its connectivity across multiple forested mountain ranges of southern Idaho and northern Utah, whose territories consist of naturally fragmented stands of mixed conifer and aspen, all nested within a predominantly sagebrush-steppe ecosystem. While goshawks can and do take advantage of this fragmented forest habitat during the breeding season, they are considered sensitive to exposure induced by low canopy cover and to temperature extremes, though these relationships have not been extensively studied at fine spatial scales. Forest temperatures are variable and known to deviate from local weather station temperature data due to heterogeneity in topography and vegetation structure, among other factors. Jessy’s thesis addresses this research gap by placing thermologgers in known goshawk nest structures, quantifying canopy cover using smartphone hemispherical panoramas, and conducting survival analyses of nestlings incorporating these data.