Post-breeding migration of four Long-tailed Skuas (Stercorarius longicaudus) from North and East Greenland to West Africa.

• Published in: Journal of Ornithology
• Main Authors: Sittler, Benoît, Aebischer, Adrian, Gilg, Olivier
• Other Authors: Institut für Landespflege, University of Freiburg Freiburg, Musée d'histoire naturelle Fribourg, Biogéosciences UMR 6282 Dijon (BGS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Bourgogne (UB)-AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement, Division of Population Biology, Financial support from the Groupe de Recherche en Ecologie Arctique and from the Musée d'histoire naturelle de Fribourg.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2011
• Subjects: Satellite tracking; Post-breeding migration; Staging area; Upwelling; Rates of travel; Long-tailed Skua; Greenland; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDV.EE]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology; environment; Arctic; East Greenland; Stercorarius longicaudus; Tundra
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00584543; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-010-0597-6

7 pages International audience The Long-tailed Skua (Stercorarius longicaudus) is a specialist predator of lemmings during the summer and hence an important component of the tundra ecosystems, but most of its life cycle takes place offshore and remains largely unknown outside of the breeding season. Using 9.5-g solar-powered satellite transmitters, we were able to document for the first time the post-breeding movements of the Long-tailed Skua, from its high-Arctic breeding-grounds in North and Eastern Greenland to the tropical waters of West Africa. The birds traveled the approximately 10,000 km of this migration in only 3-5 weeks, covering 800-900 km/day during active migration, which also occurred during nighttime. Leaving their breeding areas in August (except for one failed breeder), the Long-tailed Skuas first moved south along the coast of East Greenland towards a staging area off the Canadian Great Banks where they stayed for 1-3 weeks. From there, they crossed the Atlantic Ocean eastwards in just 1 week, entering African waters near the Madeira Archipelago in September. Although only four birds were monitored for 1.5-3 months, the data reveal that the migration routes between birds breeding in different locations and in different years were relatively similar.