Publication Title

Marine Ornithology

Document Type

Article

Department or Program

Biology

Publication Date

1-1-2012

Keywords

Fregata minor, Great Frigatebird, Habitat use, Hawaii, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, Satellite telemetry

Abstract

The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands protects breeding habitat for many migratory animals. We used satellite telemetry to describe the areas in which a mobile top predator, the Great Frigatebird Fregata minor, traveled on foraging trips during the early chick-rearing period from a breeding colony on Tern Island, French Frigate Shoals. Identification of potential foraging events, indicated by a reduction in transit rate, allowed us to assess whether wide-ranging marine species such as Great Frigatebirds remain inside the protective boundaries of the Monument while brooding young chicks. Four of 11 foraging trips extended outside of the boundaries of the Monument. These movements may represent the shortest foraging distances that Great Frigatebirds travel from the colony because adults need to provision young chicks frequently. We also tracked one male that abandoned its nest on a journey to the southwest of Tern Island. This bird was tracked for 16 days before the transmitter's battery expired, and the last transmitted position was nearly 1100 km from Tern Island. These tracks, the first reports of frigatebird telemetry in the Pacific Ocean, provide information about the foraging behaviors of a top predator during a critical life-history stage-data that will complement tracking data of other species and aid in future conservation and management decisions concerning the Monument and surrounding waters of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

Comments

Original version is available from the publisher at: http://www.marineornithology.org/content/get.cgi?rn=956

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright Note

Copyright © 2012 Marine Ornithology. This is the publisher's version of the work. This publication appears in Bates College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.

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There is no charge for viewing or downloading papers posted by Marine Ornithology. By publishing in Marine Ornithology, authors agree that their papers can be freely distributed and archived under Creative Commons license (CC BY). Marine Ornithology work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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