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Foraging distance and home range of Cassin's Auklets nesting at two colonies in the California Channel Islands

Josh Adams·John Y. Takekawa·Harry R. Carter
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Abstract

We radio-marked 99 Cassin's Auklets (Ptychoramphus aleuticus) nesting at two colonies, Prince Island and Scorpion Rock, separated by 90 km in the California Channel Islands to quantify foraging distance, individual home-range area, and colony-based foraging areas during three consecutive breeding seasons. Auklets generally foraged < 30 km from each colony in all years. Core foraging areas (50% fixed kernel) from Prince Island in 1999-2001 were north to northeast of the colony over the insular shelf near the shelfbreak. Core foraging areas from Scorpion Rock in 2000-2001 occurred in two focal areas: the Anacapa Passage, a narrow interisland passage adjacent to the colony, and over the southeastern Santa Barbara Channel. During 2000, intercolony foraging areas overlapped by 10%; however, auklets from each colony used the overlapping area at different times. Equivalent-sample-size resampling indicated Prince Island foraging area (1216 ?? 654 km2) was twice that of Scorpion Rock (598 ?? 204 km2). At Prince Island, mean individual distances, home-range areas, and colony-based activity areas were greater for females than males, especially during 2001. At Prince Island, core foraging areas of females and males, pooled separately, overlapped by 63% in 1999 and 2000, and by 35% in 2001. Postbreeding auklets from both colonies dispersed northward and moved to active upwelling centers off central California, coincident with decreased upwelling and sea-surface warming throughout the Santa Barbara Channel.

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Josh Adams, John Y. Takekawa, Harry R. Carter. 2004. Foraging distance and home range of Cassin's Auklets nesting at two colonies in the California Channel Islands. https://doi.org/10.1650/7428

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