Tracking Seasonal Habitats Using Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotopes of Osprey Primary Flight Feathers
Abstract
The majority of bird migration studies use the latitudinal precipitation effect of hydrogen and oxygen stable isotopes of feathers to determine wintering and breeding grounds. Few studies have considered carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes to accomplish the same goal; exploiting the variation in dietary constitutes throughout yearly migration cycles. Also, there is no standard procedure of feather sampling; some use body, while others use wing feathers. This sampling discrepancy is not an issue for most migratory species since the majority of birds molt completely in one location, i.e. wintering verse breeding ground. Large birds of prey however, have a continuous molt that may last years, growing feathers on their breeding and wintering grounds. Therefore, a stable isotopic study of Osprey could not randomly sample feathers because it is impossible to know where individual feathers were grown. Here we present an in depth study of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes from Mid-Atlantic Osprey primary flight feathers. Not only did we observe three signatures indicating the breeding ground and two distinct wintering grounds, we recorded dietary seasonality shifts within 2 to 3 year olds that remain on the wintering grounds for multiple years.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011AGUFM.B52A..08V
- Keywords:
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- 0400 BIOGEOSCIENCES