Abstract
Information on the migratory pathways for birds is essential to the future citing of wind power facilities, particularly in off-shore waters. Yet, relatively little is known about the coastal or offshore migratory behavior of most birds, including Franklin’s gulls (Larus pipixcan), a long-distant migrant. We report observations along the coast of Peru made in November 2008 to determine where birds concentrated. Wind facilities can not avoid regions of high avian activity without knowing where that activity occurs. Migrant flocks of 250 to 50,000 were observed on coastal farmfields, dumps and estuaries, on beaches and mudflats, and up to 45 km offshore. Bathing and foraging flocks ranged in size from 20 to 500 birds, and most flocks were monospecific, with occasional grey-headed (Larus cirrocephalus) and band-tailed (L. belcheri) on the periphery. While previous notes report Franklin’s gulls foraging coastally, we found flocks feeding up to 45 km offshore by diving for prey or feeding on the water. The relative percentage of birds of the year varied in migrant flocks from zero to 14%, with lower numbers of young foraging aerially on insects (only 1%). The percentage of young feeding over the ocean decreased with increasing distance from shore; no young of the year were recorded at 36-44 km offshore. While there were large flocks of Franklin’s gulls resting on the water inshore, the number of gulls foraging offshore did not decline up to 45 km offshore. The presence of foraging flocks of Franklin’s gulls out to 45 km offshore, and occupying space from 0 to 20 m above the water, suggests that they would be vulnerable to offshore anthropogenic activities, such as offshore drilling and wind facilities.
Highlights
The siting of wind facilities has become an important topic as governments and industry consider the possibility of large-scale offshore facilities
Bathing and foraging flocks ranged in size from 20 to 500 birds, and most flocks were monospecific, with occasional grey-headed (Larus cirrocephalus) and band-tailed (L. belcheri) on the periphery
While previous notes report Franklin’s gulls foraging coastally, we found flocks feeding up to 45 km offshore by diving for prey or feeding on the water
Summary
The siting of wind facilities has become an important topic as governments and industry consider the possibility of large-scale offshore facilities. Little is known of the ecology and behavior of species, such as marine mammals, fish, and birds, in offshore regions where wind facilities might be sited. Before siting many such facilities, it is essential to understand whether the locations would impact ecological resources in these sites. The migratory behavior of birds is an important, but often little studied aspect of their life cycle, mainly because long-distance migrants are difficult to study. They often migrate at night, at high altitudes, or at unpredictable places and times. For many species, migration is one of the most risky life stages, because of predation, weather conditions, obstacles (such as buildings or towers [1,2]), or lack of foraging habitats [3,4,5,6,7,8]
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