Metabolic heat production, body temperature, and skin temperatures of the back and breast were measured and the thermal conductance, and thus insulation, estimated in winter-acclimatized common eiders (Somateria mollissima) exposed to air and water. When exposed to low air temperatures, the plumage was responsible for most of the insulation. When exposed to water, the insulation in the plumage was reduced. This decrease was, however, compensated through increased peripheral vasoconstriction. A low total thermal conductance lowers the energetic costs of existence in cold environments. This reduces the nutritional demands, and may be an adaptation to living in polar and subpolar regions where temperatures are low and where the short day length during winter may reduce the time available for feeding.

Tracking data of marine predators are increasingly used in marine spatial management. We developed a spatial data set with estimates of the monthly distribution of 6 pelagic seabird species breeding in the Northeast Atlantic. The data set was based on year-round global location sensor (GLS) tracking data of 2356 adult seabirds from 2006-2019 from a network of seabird colonies, data describing the physical environment and data on seabird population sizes. Tracking and environmental data were combined in monthly species distribution models (SDMs). Cross-validations were used to assess the transferability of models between years and breeding locations. The analyses showed that birds from colonies close to each other (<500 km apart) used the same nonbreeding habitats, while birds from distant colonies (>1000 km) used colony-specific and, in many cases, non-overlapping habitats. Based on these results, the SDM from the nearest model colony was used to predict the distribution of all seabird colonies lying within a species-specific cut-off distance (400-500 km). Uncertainties in the predictions were estimated by cluster bootstrap sampling. The resulting data set consisted of 4692 map layers, each layer predicting the densities of birds from a given species, colony and month across the North Atlantic. This data set represents the annual distribution of 23.5 million adult pelagic seabirds, or 87% of the Northeast Atlantic breeding population of the study species. We show how the data set can be used in population and spatial management applications, including the detection of population-specific nonbreeding habitats and identifying populations influenced by marine protected areas.

Bird migration is commonly defined as a seasonal movement between breeding and non-breeding grounds. It generally involves relatively straight and directed large-scale movements, with a latitudinal change, and specific daily activity patterns comprising less or no foraging and more traveling time. Our main objective was to describe how this general definition applies to seabirds. We investigated migration characteristics of 6 pelagic seabird species (little auk Alle alle, Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica, common guillemot Uria aalge, Brünnich’s guillemot U. lomvia, black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla and northern fulmars Fulmarus glacialis). We analysed an extensive geolocator positional and saltwater immersion dataset from 29 colonies in the North-East Atlantic and across several years (2008-2019). We used a novel method to identify active migration periods based on segmentation of time series of track characteristics (latitude, longitude, net-squared displacement). Additionally, we used the saltwater immersion data of geolocators to infer bird activity. We found that the 6 species had, on average, 3 to 4 migration periods and 2 to 3 distinct stationary areas during the non-breeding season. On average, seabirds spent the winter at lower latitudes than their breeding colonies and followed specific migration routes rather than non-directionally dispersing from their colonies. Differences in daily activity patterns were small between migratory and stationary periods, suggesting that all species continued to forage and rest while migrating, engaging in a ‘fly-and-forage’ migratory strategy. We thereby demonstrate the importance of habitats visited during seabird migrations as those that are not just flown over, but which may be important for re-fuelling.

No abstract

Thermoregulatory effects which occur during the first hours after plumage‐oiling were studied under laboratory conditions by measuring the metabolic heat production of Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima) which were resting in water for up to three hours. The ducks were exposed to 10‐70 mL Statfjord A crude oil while residing in water inside a respiration chamber at 5.5°C. The study demonstrated a dose‐and time‐dependent effect of plumage oiling on metabolic heat production during the first three hours after contact with the oil. The results indicate that the immediate, short‐term effects following initial contact with oil at sea are lesser in scale than those which occur after the birds have preened the oil into a greater part of their plumage. After plumage contamination with 70 mL crude oil, the rate of heat loss exceeded the thermoregulatory heat production capacity and the Eiders became hypothermic within 70 minutes after contamination.