Project
Using seabird wing strokes to identifying important marine conservation areasHere we attempt at validating a method to determine the foraging success of pelagic sea birds by monitoring their wing stroke frequency throughout the foraging trip. In this study we are testing whether the body mass of a black legged kittiwake can be determined via the frequency at which it beats its wings. In theory additional mass gained through successful foraging should increase the work the bird has to do to maintain its flight and therefore should make its wings beat more frequently. If that method is validated, we can use GPS accelerometer data to know at a fine scale where and when Kittiwakes are being successful at catching forage fish in the gulf of Alaska (where the colony is situate). Further we will be able to determine what environmental factors affect foraging success of individuals overall. For instance warm windy days might be less favourable than cold windless days. To do this I travelled to Middleton Island about 100 km off the shore of mainland Alaska and monitored 140 kittiwakes with a GPS accelerometers and took morphometrics measurements throughout their breeding season (May to August). Once the birds were captured they were weighed and a GPS accelerometer was attached to their tailfeathers and deployed for 3 to 4 days after which they were re-captured and weighed again. Food supplemented individuals were used to validate the wingstroke frequency method by knowing their mass and that of their stomach content as they were fed, three times a day, fish of standardize size to which we know the mean mass.
