Shifts in Great Blue Heron Habitat use Following Nest Site Usurpation: Implications for Salmonids

Abstract

Abstract Interactions among predators can have important consequences for lower trophic levels. Here, we use individual tag data on juvenile salmonids to quantify how their geographic, taxonomic, and life-history representation in the diets of great blue herons (Ardea herodias) changed after a pair of bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) usurped the colony's nesting site, forcing the colony to relocate. Heron diet composition changed significantly despite the short relocation distance (4.1 km). This was driven by a shift in space use, as herons to a greater extent began consuming fish from a river basin farther away from the bald eagle nest. As a consequence the species composition in heron diets changed significantly, with the largest increase in coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and largest decrease in Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha). The representation of Chinook life-history types in the diets also shifted. Fall Chinook was the numerically dominant life-history type in the diets but decreased relative to ...