By 2040, roughly two-thirds of humanity are expected to live in urban areas. As cities expand, humans irreversibly transform natural ecosystems, creating both opportunities and challenges for wildlife. Here, we investigate how the Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) is adjusting to urban environments. We measured a variety of behavioural and ecological parameters in three urban and four rural study sites. City life appeared related to all parameters we measured. Urban female goshawks were overall 21.7 (CI_95% 5.13–130) times more likely to defend their nestlings from humans than rural females. Urban goshawks were 3.64 (CI_95% 2.05–6.66) times more likely to feed on pigeons and had diets exhibiting lower overall species richness and diversity. Urban females laid eggs 12.5 (CI_95% 7.12–17.4) days earlier than rural individuals and were 2.22 (CI_95% 0.984–4.73) times more likely to produce a brood of more than three nestlings. Nonetheless, urban goshawks suffered more from infections with the parasite Trichomonas gallinae, which was the second most common cause of mortality (14.6%), after collisions with windows (33.1%). In conclusion, although city life is associated with significant risks, goshawks appear to thrive in some urban environments, most likely as a result of high local availability of profitable pigeon prey. We conclude that the Northern Goshawk can be classified as an urban exploiter in parts of its distribution.

到 2040 年，预计大约三分之二的人类将居住在城市地区。随着城市的扩张，人类不可逆转地改变了自然生态系统，为野生动物创造了机遇和挑战。在这里，我们研究了北方苍鹰（ Accipiter gentilis ）如何适应城市环境。我们在三个城市和四个农村研究地点测量了各种行为和生态参数。城市生活似乎与我们测量的所有参数有关。总体而言，城市雌性苍鹰保护雏鸟免受人类侵害的可能性是农村雌性的 21.7 倍（CI _95% 5.13-130）。城市苍鹰以鸽子为食的可能性高出 3.64 (CI _95% 2.05–6.66) 倍，并且其饮食总体物种丰富度和多样性较低。城市雌鸟产卵时间比农村雌鸟早 12.5 (CI _95% 7.12–17.4) 天，并且产下超过三只雏鸟的可能性高出 2.22 (CI _95% 0.984–4.73) 倍。尽管如此，城市苍鹰更容易受到鸡毛滴虫寄生虫感染的影响，这是仅次于窗户碰撞（33.1%）的第二大常见死亡原因（14.6%）。总之，尽管城市生活与重大风险相关，但苍鹰似乎在某些城市环境中繁衍生息，这很可能是由于当地有大量有利可图的鸽子猎物。我们的结论是，北方苍鹰在其分布的部分地区可以被归类为城市剥削者。