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Infanticide in Highly Urbanized Colonies of Black Skimmers \u3ci\u3eRynchops niger\u3c/i\u3e
No full textInfanticide, which is the killing of dependent offspring, occurs in many species of colonial seabirds. Most infanticide attempts are made when chicks wander outside their parents’ territories and are more likely to occur when the colony experiences a disturbance or food is limited. Our objective was to determine the rate of infanticide at three Black Skimmer Rynchops niger colonies located on highly urbanized beaches in Pinellas County, Florida, USA. Infanticide occurred 42 times during 3 223 hours of monitoring (0.013 attempts per hour) over four breeding seasons (2018–2021). More than one third of the infanticide attempts occurred after a disturbance, and most of the attackers were not the chick’s parents. However, in 10 attempts, parents were observed killing or attempting to kill their own chicks, and these attacks were primarily at a colony experiencing high stress due to coyote Canis latrans predation. We recommend reducing disturbance through a robust bird stewardship program and targeted predator management to reduce infanticide at Black Skimmer colonies in human-dominated ecosystems
Identification of Marine Important Conservation Areas for Mediterranean Storm Petrels \u3ci\u3eHydrobates pelagicus melitensis\u3c/i\u3e Breeding in Sardinia, Italy
No full textMarine predators are an important component of marine trophic webs, and their decline has important consequences on whole ecosystem dynamics. Understanding their movements and habits is vital for conservation, yet extremely challenging. Tracking technologies, coupled with a robust, reproducible, and quantitative analytical framework, are being used to successfully identify Important Conservation Areas (ICAs) for seabirds, which are wide-ranging and declining marine predators. However, the identification of such areas is skewed towards large-bodied seabird species, and there are few marine ICAs for small-bodied birds like storm petrels. We GPS-tracked Mediterranean Storm Petrels Hydrobates pelagicus melitensis breeding in northwestern Sardinia over three consecutive breeding seasons (2019–2021), and we applied a recently proposed analytical framework for the assessment of ICAs using GPS data. We identified an area of 40638 km2 in the central Mediterranean Sea that spans three different national marine jurisdictions and partially falls within the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals. In these ICAs, a range of human activities take place (e.g., fishing activities, maritime traffic, tanker maritime routes), particularly in the neritic zones. Despite the relatively low human presence in the area, the human impact on the Mediterranean Sea is predicted to increase in future years, with important consequences for conservation. International cooperation to identify ICAs at the basin scale is needed, given the trans-national nature of storm petrel movements. Here, we describe the polygon of the identified ICAs for the Italian population of Mediterranean Storm Petrel we studied (available for download) to help inform marine spatial planning and target the conservation and protection of the species
Observation of a Leucistic Brown Noddy \u3ci\u3eAnous stolidus\u3c/i\u3e in Tetiaroa, French Polynesia
No full textWe observed a leucistic Brown Noddy Anous stolidus on the atoll of Tetiaroa in French Polynesia. This individual was mostly light grey, similar in coloration to a Blue Noddy Anous ceruleus. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a Brown Noddy with such plumage. Brown Noddies and White Terns Gygis alba were particularly aggressive towards the aberrantly colored Brown Noddy
Slender-billed Gull \u3ci\u3eChroicocephalus genei\u3c/i\u3e, a New Bird for Indonesia
No full textWe report a Slender-billed Gull Chroicocephalus genei seen on 08 February 2023 in the Banyuasin Peninsula, South Sumatra Province, Indonesia, the first record of this species in Indonesia. Its presence was 02° latitude farther south than its previously known global distributional range
Estimating the Impact of Marine Threats to Seabird Recovery After Predator Eradication
No full textPelagic seabirds are one of the most threatened taxa due to sustained and intensifying threats at their breeding sites on land and when foraging at sea. Predator eradication at seabird breeding sites has become a key strategy for the long-term conservation and viability of seabird populations. However, the extent to which increasing marine threats (i.e., those causing excess mortality such as fisheries bycatch, plastic ingestion, climate change/prey depletion) impact recovery remains poorly understood. We used computer simulations to model demographic data obtained from a review of existing databases to explore the impact of direct marine threats to seabird recovery following land-based predator eradication. Using the resulting parameters, we explored the impact of multiple marine threats to the population growth rates of 16 seabird species from 36 colonies worldwide. Next, we tested whether and which seabirds’ phylogenetically conserved traits could predict risk to multiple marine threats. The majority (88%) of examined colonies are projected to recover despite multiple marine threats, in the absence of invasive predators. We suggest that phylogenetically conserved traits (e.g., body mass) and species’ ecological descriptors (e.g., foraging strategy) are not good predictors of how interacting marine threats may affect population recovery. In the absence of robust at-sea mortality data or reliable predictors of risk from several at-sea sources of mortality, monitoring population recovery for seabirds is a critical element of seabird island restoration projects. Our conclusions can shape how managers implement additional conservation actions for species that fail to recover following predator eradication
A Systematic Review of Trends in Research on Seabird Behavioral Flexibility
No full textThere has been an increase in interest in the study of behavioral flexibility for its role in how organisms face disturbances and changes in their environment. However, there is not much research on this topic for seabirds, whose conservation status is affected by multiple issues related to changes in their environment. The goal of this paper was to analyze research on seabird behavioral flexibility and to identify knowledge gaps. A systematic review was conducted using academic search engines that included articles published from 1986 to 2022. In the 143 articles that were analyzed, the following were identified: publication date, family and species being studied, annual cycle period, research context and focus, behavioral flexibility components studied, and related environmental issues. The results show that the study of the issue in seabirds increased between 1986 and 2022, especially for the Spheniscidae, Alcidae, and Laridae families. Most studies were conducted in the field during the reproductive period in a parental-care context, mainly focusing on behavioral diversity and personality. In the studies that focused on behavioral flexibility mechanisms, the most-studied components were neophobia and exploration, whereas in the mixed-approach studies, the study of boldness prevailed. The environmental issue that was examined the most was global climate change. Our review shows that, even if the number of studies on seabird behavioral flexibility has increased in the last decade, few of them focus on the links between specific behavioral flexibility components, conservation status, and the environmental issues pertaining to the places where the species live
Finding Colonies of Black-headed Gulls \u3ci\u3eChroicocephalus ridibundus\u3c/i\u3e Using Google Earth
No full textWe explore the possibility of identifying Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus colonies in the saltmarshes of the Lagoon of Venice, Italy, using Google Earth satellite images. One reproductive season was considered (June 2017), based on the images available on Google Earth. This species builds nests clustered around tidal pools and tidal creeks, providing a dark background to reveal the white gulls. Images of the southern part of the lagoon (excluding fish farms) were analyzed by dividing it into sectors (n = 403) using the Google Earth grid at an elevation of 100 m above ground level. The results of the satellite count were compared with field data collected in the same season. Image analysis revealed five colonies, with excellent sensitivity (100%) but only good specificity (88%), due to the presence of numerous clear areolae falling within the spectral range of nests; these consisted of plastic litter and dry, stranded vegetation. Overall, our results indicate that Black-headed Gull colonies can be found in marsh-island habitat using Google Earth. While this approach presents sub-optimal specificity due to both the abundance of whitish debris and low image resolution, future developments in software capabilities hold the potential to overcome these limitations and enhance the accuracy of the proposed approach
Notes on a Plover Briefly Incubating an Oystercatcher Nest in Patagonia
No full textA breeding female Two-banded Plover Charadrius falklandicus was observed incubating the eggs of a Magellanic Oystercatcher Haematopus leucopodus while the nest was unattended by the oystercatcher. The behaviour was likely triggered by the plover’s nest becoming momentarily inaccessible, and so, being in incubation mode, the bird responded by incubating the nearest nest available. This is the first report of such behaviour while the oystercatcher was nearby, and the plover nest was still active and in sight
Presumed Fuegian Storm Petrels \u3ci\u3eOceanites oceanicus chilensis\u3c/i\u3e off São Tomé, Gulf of Guinea, and in the North and South Atlantic Oceans
No full textThis note summarises key identification criteria for Fuegian Storm Petrel Oceanites oceanicus chilensis that permit field separation from Wilson’s Storm Petrel O. o. oceanicus/exasperatus. Multiple sightings of presumed Fuegian Storm Petrel off São Tomé are considered in the light of these identification criteria. Here, we establish a provisional range for presumed Fuegian Storm Petrels in the Atlantic based on relevant literature, photographs in the Macaulay Library, and responses to social media requests