Small Shorebirds Feast On Green Slime To Fuel Their Long Migration
Shorebirds wade in shallow waters along shorelines searching for food. More than a million shorebirds visit the San Francisco Estuary each year during their migration to feast on the insects, worms, clams, and crabs that live on or under the surface of the sand or mud. The abundant food in the Estua...
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2021
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frym.2021.611826 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2021.611826/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/frym.2021.611826 2024-02-11T10:01:14+01:00 Small Shorebirds Feast On Green Slime To Fuel Their Long Migration Hall, Laurie A. De La Cruz, Susan E. W. Woo, Isa Kuwae, Tomohiro Nelson, David M. Takekawa, John Y. 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frym.2021.611826 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2021.611826/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers for Young Minds volume 9 ISSN 2296-6846 journal-article 2021 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2021.611826 2024-01-26T10:09:59Z Shorebirds wade in shallow waters along shorelines searching for food. More than a million shorebirds visit the San Francisco Estuary each year during their migration to feast on the insects, worms, clams, and crabs that live on or under the surface of the sand or mud. The abundant food in the Estuary provides shorebirds with the energy they need to migrate thousands of kilometers, between their breeding areas in the Arctic and their wintering areas along the Pacific coast of North and South America. Scientists have discovered that, during migration, small species of shorebirds eat a green slime called biofilm that grows on the surface of the mud. Larger shorebirds do not eat biofilm. This article describes how the bills and tongues of small shorebirds help them eat biofilm, what biofilm is, and why biofilm is an important food for those birds during migration. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Frontiers (Publisher) Arctic Pacific Frontiers for Young Minds 9 |
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Frontiers (Publisher) |
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crfrontiers |
language |
unknown |
description |
Shorebirds wade in shallow waters along shorelines searching for food. More than a million shorebirds visit the San Francisco Estuary each year during their migration to feast on the insects, worms, clams, and crabs that live on or under the surface of the sand or mud. The abundant food in the Estuary provides shorebirds with the energy they need to migrate thousands of kilometers, between their breeding areas in the Arctic and their wintering areas along the Pacific coast of North and South America. Scientists have discovered that, during migration, small species of shorebirds eat a green slime called biofilm that grows on the surface of the mud. Larger shorebirds do not eat biofilm. This article describes how the bills and tongues of small shorebirds help them eat biofilm, what biofilm is, and why biofilm is an important food for those birds during migration. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hall, Laurie A. De La Cruz, Susan E. W. Woo, Isa Kuwae, Tomohiro Nelson, David M. Takekawa, John Y. |
spellingShingle |
Hall, Laurie A. De La Cruz, Susan E. W. Woo, Isa Kuwae, Tomohiro Nelson, David M. Takekawa, John Y. Small Shorebirds Feast On Green Slime To Fuel Their Long Migration |
author_facet |
Hall, Laurie A. De La Cruz, Susan E. W. Woo, Isa Kuwae, Tomohiro Nelson, David M. Takekawa, John Y. |
author_sort |
Hall, Laurie A. |
title |
Small Shorebirds Feast On Green Slime To Fuel Their Long Migration |
title_short |
Small Shorebirds Feast On Green Slime To Fuel Their Long Migration |
title_full |
Small Shorebirds Feast On Green Slime To Fuel Their Long Migration |
title_fullStr |
Small Shorebirds Feast On Green Slime To Fuel Their Long Migration |
title_full_unstemmed |
Small Shorebirds Feast On Green Slime To Fuel Their Long Migration |
title_sort |
small shorebirds feast on green slime to fuel their long migration |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frym.2021.611826 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2021.611826/full |
geographic |
Arctic Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Pacific |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Frontiers for Young Minds volume 9 ISSN 2296-6846 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2021.611826 |
container_title |
Frontiers for Young Minds |
container_volume |
9 |
_version_ |
1790597006771617792 |