FORAGING MOVEMENTS AND THE MIGRATION TRAJECTORY OF FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATERS PUFFINUS CARNEIPES FROM THE SOUTH COAST OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

摘要

Five adult Flesh-footed Shearwaters Puffinus carneipes captured in King George Sound, Western Australia, during the 2008 chick-rearing season, were tracked using satellite telemetry. Transmitters were deployed on three birds in early March during the first half of the nestling period and on two birds toward the end of April, shortly before their annual departure from the south coast. During the earlier period, the birds demonstrated erratic foraging flight, in which they frequented neritic waters within approximately 300 km of the release location. By contrast, significantly faster, direct flight over pelagic waters, away from the south coast later in the season, was interpreted as the beginning of the shearwaters' migration. For the time that locations were received via satellite, these latter movements conformed with predictions made 56 years ago regarding the migration trajectory of Flesh-footed Shearwaters; from Western Australian colonies.