Woningnood onder roofvogels?

A long-used nesting site of Goshawks Accipiter gentilis in the Forestry of Lage Vuursche (52°10’N, 5°13’E) was thinned in winter 2001/2002. Although still present in 2002, the pair did not breed that year. In 2003, the same female (identified by comparing moulted feathers collected over the years) was found on a new nest 1100 m away from the old site. The vacated nest was apparently taken over by a new Goshawk pair, as noticed by display calls and fresh twigs on the rim in March 2003. However, a nest check on 11 April showed a single Buzzard Buteo buteo egg in the nest, but no Buzzards were seen or heard (2 were recorded on 10 April, though). During a nest check on 29 April, a 2nd-year female Goshawk was flushed from the nest, incubating the single Buzzard egg. A check on 11 June showed the nest to have been deserted. A last check on 10 July, however, revealed that a Honey-buzzard had taken over, incubating a single egg (of Honey-buzzard, not Buzzard!) till at least 27 July. The nest was found to be empty on 28 July; the large pile of empty wasp combs showed that the egg must have hatched, but the chick was apparently depredated. This sequence of events showed that within a single breeding season, the old Goshawk nest had been used by respectively a newly settled Goshawk female (not laying), a Buzzard (laying 1 egg) and a Honey-buzzard (ditto). None of these breeding attempts was successful.