Larids, Scolopacids, and Passerines Exploiting Ephemeral Prey at Talan Island, Russia

Authors

Eric P. Hoberg, Animal Parasitic Disease Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of AgricultureFollow
Alexander I. Kondratiev, Institute of Biological Problems of the North, Far Eastern Scientific Center
Alexander S. Kitaysky, Institute of Biological Problems of the North, Far Eastern Scientific Center

Date of this Version

Fall 1992

Citation

Northwestern Naturalist (autumn 1992) 73(2): 57-58.

Comments

U.S. government work.

Abstract

We report an unusual multispecies foraging assemblage that included larids, shorebirds and passerines which exploited a highly concentrated and ephemeral prey source over a period of three days in July and August 1988. During studies of breeding biology, food-habits and host-parasite ecology among a diverse colonial avifauna at Talan Island in the northern Sea of Okhotsk (59°18'N; 149°02'E) we observed the formation of mixed-species flocks during extreme high tides of July 31, August 1, and August 13, 1988.