Individual migratory schedules and wintering areas of the largest North Atlantic seabird, the northern gannet ...

• Main Authors: Garthe, Stefan, Furness, Robert W.
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: ASC 2008 - Theme session P 2024
• Subjects: Technologies and data; Ecosystem observation, processes and dynamics; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.25244197.v1; https://ices-library.figshare.com/articles/conference_contribution/Individual_migratory_schedules_and_wintering_areas_of_the_largest_North_Atlantic_seabird_the_northern_gannet/25244197/1

No abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.Northern gannets are long-lived migratory seabirds. Individual migratory schedules and wintering areas were studied over two consecutive winters by deploying geolocation data loggers on breeding adults from the Bass Rock, UK. Recapture rates of the devices after one year were 87 and 81 %, respectively. Some gannets stayed in winter in the North Sea but most birds travelled to areas further south, with a hotspot off West Africa (see Fig. 1 for one example). A few birds moved into the Mediterranean Sea. Direct distances between Bass Rock and the core winter area ranged from 170 to 4552 km (winter means: 2154 km and 2897 km). Gannets followed quite closely the continental shelf while migrating. Birds attended the colony until between 24 September and 13 October (median: 4-5 October). Birds wintering off West Africa migrated to their winter areas mostly within 3-5 weeks starting usually between early and late October. Return migration was ...