Underwater images from bird-borne cameras provide clue to poor breeding success of Shags in 2005
The first underwater digital photographs obtained by cameras carried by Shags PhaJacrocorax aristoteJis showed the birds diving in areas dominated by soft coral Alcyonium digitatum and feeding on butterfish PhoJis gunnel/us, which were brought to the surface before being swallowed. Prey capture rates were markedly lower than previous estimates for birds feeding on sandeels Ammodytes.This reduced foraging performance probably contributed to the very poor breeding success at the colony on the Isle of May in 2005.
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Authors: Watanuki, Yutaka, Takahashi, Akinori, Daunt, Francis ORCID record for Francis Daunt, Sato, Katsufumi, Miyazaki, Nobuyuki, Wanless, Sarah