Abstract
Abstract Most of the Great Skuas (Stercorarius skua) breeding at Hermaness, Shetland, exhibit dietary specialization: a small proportion feed almost exclusively upon seabird prey, a small proportion feed as generalists, and most feed on fishery discards. We investigated the foraging dynamics, reproductive performance, and survival of Great Skuas that specialized in depredating other seabirds compared with those feeding predominantly on fish. Around half of the specialist bird predators defended combined breeding and feeding territories that included a section of seabird colony; the remainder of the predatory skuas foraged away from breeding territories. Specialist bird predators retained their feeding habit and, if present, feeding territory, across years. Time budgets revealed that specialist bird predators spent less time foraging than skuas feeding predominantly on fish. Results of radio-telemetry indicated that bird-specialist skuas have smaller home ranges than other birds. In a comparison of reprodu...
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