Foraging ecology of the thick-billed murre: Patterns of prey location and selection.

Abstract

Patterns of foraging behaviour of Thick-billed Murres (Uria lomvia ) feeding nestlings at Coats Island, Nunavut in northern Hudson Bay were studied. Small, electronic data recorders attached to adult birds were used to quantify dive behaviour and flight activity while provisioning for nestlings. Observations of individuals returning to the colony were conducted to identify the types and sizes of prey items birds were delivering to chicks. Trends in species composition of nestling diets were examined from 1994 to 2000. Information obtained on foraging behaviour are discussed in relation to general predictions of central place foraging theory, as well as in relation to the ecology of prey species in the vicinity of the colony. The implications of my results for the value of information gathered from seabirds, as indicators of their local marine environments, is addressed. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)