Abstract
Abstract Foraging by Grey Herons (Ardea cinerea) on fish regurgitated by Great Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) was investigated in large mixed colony (ca. 10,000 pairs of cormorants and 700 pairs of herons) at Kąty Rybackie (north Poland). Experiments with displaying fish in different parts of the mixed and monospecific colonies were carried out. Herons took fish only within the area of mixed nests. Herons foraged on regurgitated fish during the whole breeding season but most intensively (up to 18% of all birds) in the fledging period. The main foraging area of herons (the Vistula Lagoon) has abundant food and is situated close to the colony. The fish regurgitated by cormorants constituted an important source of food for fledglings in the critical period after leaving the nest and was an alternative or supplementary food for adult birds during a period of bad weather. Extra food available in the colony could be responsible for high breeding success of the herons in the mixed colony at Kąty Rybackie.
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