USGS · 70250562
No abstract available.
Explore connections, maps & timelines
Brett K. Sandercock, Ashley E. Casey, D. Earl Green, S. Ip, Kathryn A. Converse. 2008. Reovirus associated with mortality of an Upland Sandpiper. https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/70250562
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.
KEEP EXPLORING
Montane-nesting shorebirds are arguably the least studied of the Charadriiformes, owing in part to the remoteness of their breeding areas, low nesting densities, and specialized behaviors. We studied a marked population of the Wandering Tattler Tringa incana, during a three-year period (1997–1999) on nesting grounds in south-central Alaska. Two aspects of our results stand out. First is the previously undescribed preference for tattlers to nest several kilometers removed from pre-nesting feeding areas, mostly in association with both small (kettle) lakes and running water (near small distributaries of major drainages). Second is the apparent use of the study area by cohorts of birds of different breeding status, including (1) local breeders, which defended pre-breeding foraging areas, (2) local non-breeding birds, which remained on the area but were not territorial, and (3) transients that were captured later in the season, but not seen again on the area during the season of capture. We also found that (1) birds tended to nest in clusters despite what appeared to be the ample availability of nesting habitat, (2) they employed an inconspicuous’ nesting strategy whereby neither member of a pair betrayed its presence on the nesting area, and (3) females departed the area during early chick-rearing, leaving males to tend broods.
No abstract available.
We here report two anecdotes about avian interactions relevant to the interpretation of differences in shorebird habitat use between day and night . Several studies have reported that shorebirds avoid feeding and roosting along nearshore areas at night yet commonly use these sites during daytime. This suggests that nighttime avoidance of nearshore places is a response to increased danger of predation. When mist-netting during autumn 2005 on nearshore intertidal habitats along South Spit, Egegik Bay (Alaska Peninsula), Alaska, we discovered that shorebirds that occurred there in large numbers during daytime low tides and roosted there during daytime high tides (especially Dunlin Calidris alpina, Rock Sandpipers Calidris ptilocnemis, Black-bellied Plover Pluvialis squatarola, and Surfbirds Aphriza virgata), were absent at night . Their avoidance of the area correlated with Short-eared Owls Asio flammeus concurrently hunting over the beach and adjacent intertidal habitats. Spotlighting over nearby expansive intertidal mudflats confirmed that the same suite of species continued to forage or roost nearby at night. To bring the story full circle, the morning following one mist-netting effort we found a Short-eared Owl on the beach that had been killed earlier by a Gyrfalcon Falco rusticolus. In the owl’s stomach were remains of a freshly devoured Dunlin.