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Updated: Dec 30, 2025

A Video Surveillance System to Monitor Breeding Colonies of Common Terns Sterna Hirundo
Published on: July 22, 2018
Increased summer food supply decreases non-breeding movement in black-legged kittiwakes
Shannon Whelan1, Scott A Hatch2, David B Irons3
1Department of Natural Resources Sciences, McGill University, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada.
Abstract:
Individual condition at one stage of the annual cycle is expected to influence behaviour during subsequent stages, yet experimental evidence of food-mediated carry-over effects is scarce. We used a food supplementation experiment to test the effects of food supply during the breeding season on migration phenology and non-breeding behaviour. We provided an unlimited supply of fish to black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) during their breeding season on Middleton Island, Alaska, monitored reproductive phenology and breeding success, and used light-level geolocation to observe non-breeding behaviour. Among successful breeders, fed kittiwakes departed the colony earlier than unfed controls. Fed kittiwakes travelled less than controls during the breeding season, contracting their non-breeding range. Our results demonstrate that food supply during the breeding season affects non-breeding phenology, movement and distribution, providing a potential behavioural mechanism underlying observed survival costs of reproduction.
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