Satellite tracking of Ross’s Gull Rhodostethia rosea in the Arctic Ocean.

• Published in: Journal of Ornithology
• Main Authors: Gilg, Olivier, Andreev, Alexandre, Aebischer, Adrian, Kondratyev, Alexander, Sokolov, Aleksandr, Dixon, Andrew
• Other Authors: Biogéosciences UMR 6282 (BGS), Université de Bourgogne (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Groupe de recherche en écologie arctique (GREA), Laboratory of Ornithology, Institute of Biological Problems of the North (IBPN), Ecological Research Station of Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences (UB RAS), International Wildlife Consultants Ltd, Groupe de Recherche en Ecologie Arctique
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: Satellite tracking; Post-breeding migration; Staging area; Sea-ice; Rates of travel; Ross’s Gull; Siberia; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDV.BID]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Laptev Sea; Kolyma; Severnaya Zemlya; Archipelago; Arctic birds; Chukotka; laptev; polar night; Sea ice; Alaska
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01273634; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-015-1273-7

5 pages International audience Ross’s Gull is one of the most emblematic Arctic birds and least known seabirds in the world; post-breeding movements and the use of sea-ice habitats have been long debated, but described only from scattered observations. We tracked two adults, a male and female, breeding in the Kolyma Delta, Russia, using the lightest (<5 g) satellite transmitters currently available: the transmitters provided data for 44 and 132 days for the female and male, respectively. After departing from the breeding area and reaching the nearby Laptev Sea at the beginning of July, both birds moved NW, and the male staged until the end of September in an area of scattered sea-ice (concentration 50–100 %), NE of Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, between 80 and 85° N. By mid-October, most likely escaping the polar night, this bird reached the coast of NW Alaska, and a few days later it arrived in the coastal wetlands of North Chukotka, where it remained until the transmitter stopped in early November.