Use of alternative feeding habitats in the opportunistic kelp gull (Larus dominicanus) at the Bahía San Blas Protected Area, Argentina.

KASINSKY TATIANA; NICOLÁS SUÁREZ; CRISTIAN MARINAO; PABLO YORIO

WATERBIRDS (DE LEON SPRINGS, FLA.)

WATERBIRD SOC

Año: 2018

1524-4695

We present the first information on the use of feeding areas by breeding Kelp Gulls (Larus dominicanus) in coastal Argentina. We studied Kelp Gull foraging patterns by deploying GPS loggers in 20 incubating individuals at their colony in the Bahía San Blas protected area, Argentina. Mean number of trips per day was 1.5 ± 0.5 and mean trip duration was 272.6 ± 165.2 min. Mean maximum distances from the colony was 19.6 ± 24.4 km. Incubating gulls foraged in natural and anthropogenic environments. Most instrumented individuals (87%) switched between two or three different habitat types during a given foraging trip. However, Kelp Gulls showed a differential use of feeding areas, with a significantly higher use of refuse dumps than coastal, terrestrial and off-shore habitats. Seventy one percent of recorded trips (n = 108 trips) targeted the dump located in the small town of Bahía San Blas, where waste generated by recreational fishing is regularly disposed. Moreover, most visited shoreline locations were those regularly used by recreational fishers. Despite showing plasticity in foraging habitat use, the local refuse dump and nearby shoreline sites where fish waste is regularly disposed were the main feeding habitats for incubating Kelp Gulls.