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Volume 53, No. 2

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What to eat when far from home? A vagrant seabird selects novel but analogous prey.


Authors

WILLIAM L. KENNERLEY1, GEMMA V. CLUCAS2, DONALD E. LYONS3,4, & KEENAN C. YAKOLA3
1Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, Oregon, 97365, USA (william.kennerley@oregonstate.edu)
2Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14850, USA
3Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, 97331, USA
4National Audubon Society Seabird Institute, Bremen, Maine, 04551, USA

Citation

Kennerley, W. L., Clucas, G. V., Lyons, D. E., & Yakola, K. C. 2025. What to eat when far from home? A vagrant seabird selects novel but analogous prey.. Marine Ornithology 53: 251 - 256
http://doi.org/10.5038/2074-1235.53.2.1644

Received 19 November 2024, accepted 07 February 2025

Date Published: 2025/10/15
Date Online: 2025/08/26
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Key words: dietary plasticity, DNA metabarcoding, Gulf of Maine, seabird diet, vagrancy

Abstract

Vagrancy in birds is an important mechanism contributing to range expansion and the establishment of new breeding populations. However, research on the ecology of vagrant individuals has been limited. From 2005 to 2021, a Red-billed Tropicbird Phaethon aethereus, far outside its usual range, was a summer resident at Seal Island, Maine, USA. In 2020 and 2021, we collected fecal samples from this individual and identified prey types consumed via DNA metabarcoding techniques, using 12S and 18S genes. We identified six fish species in the Red-billed Tropicbird fecal DNA samples, with Atlantic Saury Scomberesox saurus and Atlantic Mackerel Scomber scombrus contributing ~75% of DNA reads. To our knowledge, these two species have not previously been documented in the diet of Red-billed Tropicbirds, yet they were important in both years despite contrasting environmental conditions. Although it is quite possible that this vagrant individual had not encountered either saury or mackerel prior to its extralimital dispersal to the Gulf of Maine, these species share morphological and functional traits with known tropicbird prey elsewhere. Thus, despite occurring > 2,400 km from known breeding sites, this Red-billed Tropicbird was capable of selecting suitable prey in a variable environment.

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Browse previous volumes:

Volumes > 38 (2010-->)

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Volumes 18-27 (1990-99)

Volumes 5-17 (1978-89) a.k.a 'Cormorant'