Behneyetal. • RAPTOR AND LESSER PRAIRIE-CHICKEN INTERACTIONS 
337 
Hawks) typically capture prey on the ground and 
would likely have difficulty overtaking and 
catching a prairie-chicken in the air (Macwhirter 
and Bildstein 19%, England et al. 1997). These 
raptor species elicited more flushing responses 
from prairie-chickens. Falcons evolved to over¬ 
take and capture prey in the air (Webster 1944. 
While 1962), and elicited more of a squatting 
response and an observable hesitancy to flush by 
prairie-chickens. This suggests Lesser Prairie- 
Chickens are able to assess the threat posed hy 
different raptors species and have evolved the 
appropriate behavioral response. 
We are confident we detected all raptor 
predation attempts on Lesser Prairie-Chickens at 
leks during monitoring and video-recording peri¬ 
ods. However, it is possible that we missed some 
raptor fly-bys or coursing that occurred behind or 
over the blind or camera. We believe any observer 
effect on raptor presence or behavior was minimal 
due to the small size of the blind, our arrival well 
before sunrise, and that we remained stationary 
throughout the observation period. Encounter 
rates were higher for direct observation than 
video-recording, suggesting observer presence 
was not inhibiting raptor presence. 
Raptors were not a source of mortality or 
marked disturbance of Lesser Prairie-Chickens 
while on leks in our study. This suggests mortality 
of lekking Lesser Prairie-Chickens from raptor 
predation is not a factor contributing to population 
declines. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
We thank Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for 
funding this research. The USGS Texas Cooperative Fish 
and Wildlife Research Unit, and the Department of Natural 
Resources Management at Texas Tech University also 
contributed necessary resources, This research was con¬ 
ducted in accordance with Texas Tech University animal 
use protocol T06043-09. We thank D. A. Haukos and M. J. 
Holler for suggestions and contributions throughout this 
research. A, D Apu. M. D. Giovanni. C. A. Hagen. T. A. 
Messtner. C, E. Braun, and an anonymous reviewer 
provided helpful comments on earlier versions of our 
manuscript. 
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