The ferruginous hawk maintains minimum distances from other nesting raptors but will nest closer than necessary, suggesting that the distance is not fixed. The "nearest neighbor" distance has varied from less than to as much as with an average of . Nests facing different hunting territories are tolerated much closer than nests facing the same hunting territory. The minimum distance between nests is probably about one half mile on densely occupied areas. Nesting densities in several studies have varied from one pair per . In Alberta, on one study site, there was a stable density of one pair per , on average with little deviation from this mean. In Idaho, the average home range for four pairs of ferruginous hawk in the Snake River area was slightly over .