Modelling Critical Habitat for the Eastern Whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus) in Georgian Bay, Ontario: Comparing the Maximum Entropy Model and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Framework

MaxEnt identified distance to opening as the strongest predictor of occurrence, with predicted suitability further influenced by canopy heterogeneity and slope (AUC = 0.73). The MCDA framework emphasized canopy heterogeneity as the dominant influence and classified 91% of the landscape in the three intermediate suitability classes, with 53% of validation points falling within suitable or highly suitable classes. Despite methodological differences, both models classified 7% of the landscape as highly suitable habitat with largely concordant spatial patterns.

Highly suitable habitats were concentrated in rock barrens and regenerating forests. The predicted suitability maps produced in this study provide land managers with a spatially explicit tool to prioritize future surveys, land purchase, and recovery planning for the Eastern Whip-poor-will across the Georgian Bay region.