Post by whiterose on Oct 15, 2007 18:56:09 GMT -5
news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1644482007
Why We Should All Care About This Bird
Ian Johnston
THE gannet was thought to be the one seabird immune to the food shortages which have caused devastation in colonies across Scotland.
Its famed tendency to eat almost anything, its hunting ability and a foraging range of hundreds of miles supposedly safeguarded the gannet from the mass breeding failures affecting colonies of such birds as the puffin, guillemot and kittiwake.
Conservationists have watched live on monitoring cameras as kittiwake chicks starved to death because their parents have been unable to find enough food to sustain them.
But now, scientists have found the first signs that even gannets - which will eat anything from tiny sandeels to large mackerel - are struggling to find enough food for their young.
While problems at a puffin colony on St Kilda show there is a local food shortage, the discovery that gannets are starting to suffer suggests marine life is in trouble throughout the food chain and over a wide area of the sea.
Research using tracking devices has found the birds have been flying farther from their nests at the world's largest single gannet colony on Bass Rock, off the East Lothian coast, to find food, with some flying to Norway - a round trip of more than 600 miles.
They have also increased their flying speeds in an attempt to get back to nest sites in time to relieve their mates.
Dr Keith Hamer, of Leeds University, said a lack of food appeared to be forcing more adult birds to do what was previously almost unthinkable for a gannet: abandon their chicks on the nest.
"The received wisdom was they don't leave chicks unattended and, quite often, one adult would come in and you'd have both birds there together for a while," Dr Hamer said.
"What's happened quite recently is gannets have been extending their foraging and trip durations so the bird at sea is away so long that the bird on the nest has to leave.
"An unattended chick is quite vulnerable, particularly on the Bass Rock where there
Why We Should All Care About This Bird
Ian Johnston
THE gannet was thought to be the one seabird immune to the food shortages which have caused devastation in colonies across Scotland.
Its famed tendency to eat almost anything, its hunting ability and a foraging range of hundreds of miles supposedly safeguarded the gannet from the mass breeding failures affecting colonies of such birds as the puffin, guillemot and kittiwake.
Conservationists have watched live on monitoring cameras as kittiwake chicks starved to death because their parents have been unable to find enough food to sustain them.
But now, scientists have found the first signs that even gannets - which will eat anything from tiny sandeels to large mackerel - are struggling to find enough food for their young.
While problems at a puffin colony on St Kilda show there is a local food shortage, the discovery that gannets are starting to suffer suggests marine life is in trouble throughout the food chain and over a wide area of the sea.
Research using tracking devices has found the birds have been flying farther from their nests at the world's largest single gannet colony on Bass Rock, off the East Lothian coast, to find food, with some flying to Norway - a round trip of more than 600 miles.
They have also increased their flying speeds in an attempt to get back to nest sites in time to relieve their mates.
Dr Keith Hamer, of Leeds University, said a lack of food appeared to be forcing more adult birds to do what was previously almost unthinkable for a gannet: abandon their chicks on the nest.
"The received wisdom was they don't leave chicks unattended and, quite often, one adult would come in and you'd have both birds there together for a while," Dr Hamer said.
"What's happened quite recently is gannets have been extending their foraging and trip durations so the bird at sea is away so long that the bird on the nest has to leave.
"An unattended chick is quite vulnerable, particularly on the Bass Rock where there