Modeling of Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus) Nesting Selection in Yazd Baghshadi Protected Area with the Use of Binomial Logistic Regression

Characteristics of Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus) nesting in Baghshadi e Khatam protected area were evaluated in the spring of 2015. Twenty nests of this bird were detected in the study area by establishing 10 random transects in the spring of 2014 and 20 control points were also obtained within 500 meters from each nest in different directions. Habitat variables such as the area of canopy, height of plant species, distance to the nearest water source and road were measured in presence points and compared with those of control points. The results of independent t-test compared with the mean of variables between the presence and absence points showed that Wood Pigeon prefered Pistachia atlantica trees with more canopy areas and higher heights far from roads for nesting. In most cases, nests of Syrian Woodpeckers were seen beside the nests of Wood Pigeons on a stand tree indicating no feeding competition between the two species. Logistic regression analysis showed that the canopy area of P. atlantica trees was an important variable in nest site selection for this species (P= 0.002, r2 =0.54). Conservation of Woodland Climax will play an important role for species survival in the region.