Geology Reports⌕ Search
Home/Archive/USGS

USGS · 70029421

Do wintering Harlequin Ducks forage nocturnally at high latitudes?

Daniel Rizzolo·Daniel Esler·Daniel D. Roby·Robert L. Jarvis
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

We monitored radio-tagged Harlequin Ducks ( Histrionicus histrionicus ) to determine whether nocturnal feeding was part of their foraging strategy during winter in south-central Alaska. Despite attributes of our study site (low ambient temperatures, harsh weather, short day length) and study species (small body size, high daytime foraging rates) that would be expected to favor nocturnal foraging, we found no evidence of nocturnal dive-feeding. Signals from eight radio-tagged Harlequin Ducks never exhibited signal loss due to diving during a total of 780 minutes of nocturnal monitoring. In contrast, the same eight birds exhibited signal loss during 62 ± 7% (SE) of 5-minute diurnal monitoring periods (total of 365 minutes of monitoring). Our results suggest that Harlequin Ducks in south-central Alaska face a stringent time constraint on daytime foraging during midwinter. Harlequin Ducks wintering at high latitudes, therefore, may be particularly sensitive to factors that increase foraging requirements or decrease foraging efficiency.

Explore related subjects

CondorArticle

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Daniel Rizzolo, Daniel Esler, Daniel D. Roby, Robert L. Jarvis. 2005. Do wintering Harlequin Ducks forage nocturnally at high latitudes?. https://doi.org/10.1093/condor%2F107.1.173

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related USGS reports

USGS2020

Implanted satellite transmitters affect sea duck movement patterns at short- and long-term time scales

Studies of the effects of transmitters on wildlife often focus on survival. However, non-lethal behavioral changes resulting from radiomarking have the potential to affect inferences from telemetry data and may vary based on individual and environmental characteristics. We used a long-term, multi-species tracking study of sea ducks to assess behavioral patterns at multiple temporal scales following implantation of intracoelomic satellite transmitters. We applied state-space models to assess short-term behavioral patterns in individuals with implanted satellite transmitters, as well as comparing breeding site attendance and migratory phenology across multiple years after capture. In the short term, our results suggest an increase in dispersive behavior immediately following capture and transmitter implantation; however, behavior returned to seasonally-average patterns within approximately five days after release. Over multiple years, we found that breeding site attendance by both males and females was depressed during the first breeding season after radiomarking relative to subsequent years, with larger relative decreases in breeding site attendance among males than females. We also found that spring migration occurred later in the first year after radiomarking than in subsequent years. Across all behavioral effects, the severity of behavioral change often varied by species, sex, age, and capture season, suggesting heterogeneity in individual sensitivity. We conclude that, although individuals appear to adjust relatively quickly (i.e., within one week) to implanted satellite transmitters, changes in breeding phenology may occur over the longer term and should be considered when analyzing and reporting telemetry data.

Condor↗
USGS2020

Passive acoustic monitoring effectively detects Northern Spotted Owls and Barred Owls over a range of forest conditions

Passive acoustic monitoring using autonomous recording units (ARUs) is a fast-growing area of wildlife research especially for rare, cryptic species that vocalize. Northern Spotted Owl ( Strix occidentalis caurina ) populations have been monitored since the mid-1980s using mark–recapture methods. To evaluate an alternative survey method, we used ARUs to detect calls of Northern Spotted Owls and Barred Owls ( S. varia ), a congener that has expanded its range into the Pacific Northwest and threatens Northern Spotted Owl persistence. We set ARUs at 30 500-ha hexagons (150 ARU stations) with recent Northern Spotted Owl activity and high Barred Owl density within Northern Spotted Owl demographic study areas in Oregon and Washington, and set ARUs to record continuously each night from March to July, 2017. We reviewed spectrograms (visual representations of sound) and tagged target vocalizations to extract calls from ~160,000 hr of recordings. Even in a study area with low occupancy rates on historical territories (Washington’s Olympic Peninsula), the probability of detecting a Northern Spotted Owl when it was present in a hexagon exceeded 0.95 after 3 weeks of recording. Environmental noise, mainly from rain, wind, and streams, decreased detection probabilities for both species over all study areas. Using demographic information about known Northern Spotted Owls, we found that weekly detection probabilities of Northern Spotted Owls were higher when ARUs were closer to known nests and activity centers and when owls were paired, suggesting passive acoustic data alone could help locate Northern Spotted Owl pairs on the landscape. These results demonstrate that ARUs can effectively detect Northern Spotted Owls when they are present, even in a landscape with high Barred Owl density, thereby facilitating the use of passive, occupancy-based study designs to monitor Northern Spotted Owl populations.

Oregon, Washington↗
USGS2019

Social status, forest disturbance, and Barred Owls shape long-term trends in breeding dispersal distance of Northern Spotted Owls

Dispersal among breeding sites in territorial animals (i.e. breeding dispersal) is driven by numerous selection pressures, including competition and spatiotemporal variation in habitat quality. The scale and trend of dispersal movements over time may signal changing conditions within the population or on the landscape. We examined 2,158 breeding dispersal events from 694 male and 608 female individually marked Northern Spotted Owls ( Strix occidentalis caurina ) monitored over 28 yr on 7 study areas to assess the relative importance of individual (sex, experience), reproductive (annual productivity, mate availability), and environmental (forest alteration, presence of competitor) sources of variation in breeding dispersal distance. Median breeding dispersal distance was 3.17 km, with 99% of all breeding dispersal events <37 km. Mean annual dispersal distances increased by 2.43 km in Oregon and 9.40 km in Washington between 1990 and 2017, which coincided with increases in annual detections of nonnative Barred Owl ( S. varia ). Frequency of breeding dispersal events, both among and within individuals, also increased over time. Female owls moved farther than males (median of 3.26 and 3.10 km, respectively), and birds with less experience (territory tenure) moved farther than those with more experience. Owls that were single in the year prior to dispersal moved 13–31% farther than those paired prior to dispersal. The greatest environmental change occurring over the course of our study was the expansion of Barred Owl populations. Breeding dispersal distance was positively related to Barred Owls in the study area and disturbance within the originating territory. While it appears that social factors continue to be important drivers of breeding dispersal distance in Spotted Owls, increased competition from Barred Owls and habitat alteration have a contributing effect. Increased breeding dispersal distances should be of concern for conservation efforts and considered in population monitoring because changing dispersal behavior may lead to higher rates of mortality and/or emigration from historical study areas.

Oregon, Washington↗