Do wintering Harlequin Ducks forage nocturnally at high latitudes?

Condor
By: , and 

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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.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Do wintering Harlequin Ducks forage nocturnally at high latitudes?
Series title Condor
DOI 10.1093/condor/107.1.173
Volume 107
Issue 1
Year Published 2005
Language English
Publisher Cooper Ornithological Club
Publisher location Santa Clara, CA
Contributing office(s) Alaska Science Center, Coop Res Unit Seattle
Description 5 p.
First page 173
Last page 177
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
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