Great Skuas and Northern Gannets on Foula, summer 2022 - an unprecedented, H5N1 related massacre ...

• Main Authors: Camphuysen, Kees, Gear, Sheila
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: NIOZ 2022
• Subjects: Stercorarius skua
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25850/nioz/7b.b.gd; https://dataportal.nioz.nl/doi/10.25850/nioz/7b.b.gd

In summer 2022, a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) H5N1 pandemic struck, affecting numerous species of colonial seabirds all over the Northern Hemisphere. Great skuas Stercorarius skua and Northern Gannets Morus bassanus were especially badly affected by the outbreak. This report documents the exceptional mortality levels, poor reproductive success and a major population decline in Great Skuas breeding in Foula (Shetland), and a drop in numbers of breeding Northern Gannets on the island. Systematic searches (May-August) produced over 1500 corpses of Great Skuas of which 109 had been ringed earlier in life. The distribution of corpses was non-homogeneous, with clusters of corpses in relatively wet areas, mostly known as clubs and bathing sites. Mortality became apparent in early May, peaked in the second half of May and early June, but continued through the summer at lower levels. In June, Apparently Occupied Territories (AOT) of Great Skuas were counted and it appeared that numbers had ...