United States

**Abstract:**

Albatross are typically regarded as adapted to almost effortless aerial travel, with morphology and physiology facilitating an extreme ocean-wandering lifestyle but restricting their effectiveness below water to shallow dives at most. While few in number, depth recorder studies of albatross are consistent with this notion, suggesting that as a group they are very shallow divers, with about 7m the record diving depth of any species. However, informal observations of submergence times for BBA (Catry per obs) suggested that, in a Falklands population of this species at least, the picture may be more complex. We therefore conducted precision combined telemetry deployments (depth recorder, accelerometer, GPS) on BBA breeding on New Island in the western Falkands to investigate the details of foraging behaviour. In a sample of 27 breeding birds on foraging excursions during brood guard we found that the mean maximum diving depth was, surprisingly, around 11.2 m, with every individual diving to at least 2.9 m, 15 individuals diving &gt; 10 m, and the single maximum dive depth recorded at around 20 m. Deeper dives were correspondingly long in duration, with a mean max submergence of about 50 seconds. These deep dives are relatively rare occurrences, but are widespread across individuals and show significant bottom-time features suggesting active pursuit of prey. Our findings suggest that the diving physiology of albatross may need to be reconsidered.

**Authors:**

Tim Guilford¹, Oliver Padget¹, Louise Maurice², Paulo Catry³

¹Oxford University, ²British Geological Survey, ³ISPA ? Instituto Universitário

3rd World Seabird Conference

Widespread but infrequent deep diving in a mollymawk albatross

Welcome Seabirders!  

Welcome to Virtual World Seabird Conference 3 - vWSC3! Whether you are in your office or lab, at home, in a coffee shop or bar poaching some wifi, or at a remote field site or research vessel – we are very excited to welcome you to the third ever World Seabird Conference. 

We would like to thank ALL of you for being so patient as WSC3 was scheduled, postponed, rescheduled, revised to virtual, and scheduled again. Throughout all those iterations there was one message that remained perfectly clear – seabirders were eager to meet and share their science. If we could not meet in person then virtual it would have to be, but a 3rd WSC was something everyone wanted. That support and commitment helped the WSU Board of Directors and Member Societies sort through all of the challenges they faced to plan and hold this conference. 

The list of those that need to be thanked is long and, while we plan on recognizing many during the live closing plenary, it is important to do so here in writing as well. 

The Australasian Seabird Group was our Local Host for our plan to meet in Hobart, Tasmania. They invested substantial time and effort to find venues and plan events that we unfortunately were not able to visit. Nonetheless we appreciate their work on behalf of WSC3 and encourage all of you to thank them when you see their members in Gathertown or elsewhere during our virtual meeting. Their willingness to host created the initial excitement for WSC3 and without that our vWSC would not have been possible.

We also wish to thank the Science Program Committee, the Virtual Committee, and the Early Career Scientist Committee for their hard work planning the logistics, events, and schedule for vWSC3. These committees also had to deal with changing parameters and short timelines that made what is always a challenging task even more challenging. The Travel Awards Committee also invested time and effort in developing procedures for awarding travel funds that ultimately would not be implemented. 

Our ability to shift from an in-person to a virtual meeting, and to do so in a way that would be financially feasible, was due to the effective efforts of The International Fundraising Committee and to our financial sponsors. The IFC raised funds to support WSC3 and then, through the good relationships they built with sponsors, ensured we could re-envision how those funds could be used to support a virtual conference that would be affordable and high-quality.

We all owe the WSU Board of Directors and the Representatives of the Member Societies a great deal of thanks. They are the ones who manage the WSU and, for the past 18 months, have had to have a series of challenging meetings and conversations, have had to make a series of difficult choices, have had to do all of that while considering the short- and long-term health of WSU and the World Seabird Conferences, and did this while also managing their own challenges at their day jobs. We are grateful for their diligence, patience, foresight, and throughout all of the meetings, their collegiality. Also – a 6-year term is quite a commitment!

There would not be a WSC3 without a successful WSC1 and WSC2. Thanks go to the Pacific Seabird Group for their support of WSC1 in Victoria, Canada, and to the African Seabird Group for their support of WSC2 in Cape Town, South Africa. In each of these endeavors and for our current conference we were fortunate to work with a dependable and trustworthy partner in Podium Conferences. Michelle Smith and Marischal de Armond have become valued members of our team and have not only helped us plan conferences but have assisted and advised the WSU Chairs and Board on issues above and beyond conference planning. 

As we embark on our vWSC3 week we extend to all of you our thanks for showing up, for being patient, and most importantly for the work you do with seabirds. We are all part of a unique, global community that shares an interest, a fascination, and a passion for birds that make a living in our world’s oceans. We have advanced the science, conservation, and management of seabirds as well the ecosystems they inhabit. We are consistently impressed and motivated by the work you do. 

The WSU formed in 2010 because we saw the need for a global organization to address challenges at a global level. Over the past 11 years WSU has grown, adapted, and evolved to become the community that this week is making vWSC3 a reality. Enjoy the week, appreciate and support the friends and colleagues you have made in the community, and if you see us in a virtual hallway please stop and say hello! 

Thank you for the opportunity to serve all of you and the WSU over the past few years,

Nicholas Carlile, Interim Chair, WSU<br>
Patrick Jodice, 2nd Chair of the WSU<br><br>

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Join us for four days of science, networking and virtual engagement with delegates from around the world!

**Abstract:**

Albatross are typically regarded as adapted to almost effortless aerial travel, with morphology and physiology facilitating an extreme ocean-wandering lifestyle but restricting their effectiveness below water to shallow dives at most. While few in number, depth recorder studies of albatross are consistent with this notion, suggesting that as a group they are very shallow divers, with about 7m the record diving depth of any species. However, informal observations of submergence times for BBA (Catry per obs) suggested that, in a Falklands population of this species at least, the picture may be more complex. We therefore conducted precision combined telemetry deployments (depth recorder, accelerometer, GPS) on BBA breeding on New Island in the western Falkands to investigate the details of foraging behaviour. In a sample of 27 breeding birds on foraging excursions during brood guard we found that the mean maximum diving depth was, surprisingly, around 11.2 m, with every individual diving to at least 2.9 m, 15 individuals diving > 10 m, and the single maximum dive depth recorded at around 20 m. Deeper dives were correspondingly long in duration, with a mean max submergence of about 50 seconds. These deep dives are relatively rare occurrences, but are widespread across individuals and show significant bottom-time features suggesting active pursuit of prey. Our findings suggest that the diving physiology of albatross may need to be reconsidered.

**Authors:**

Tim Guilford¹, Oliver Padget¹, Louise Maurice², Paulo Catry³

¹Oxford University, ²British Geological Survey, ³ISPA ? Instituto Universitário

technical paper

**Abstract:**

Seabirds are one of the most threatened groups of birds globally, and many seabird populations are experiencing severe declines. This is true in the Atlantic ocean where many seabird populations have undergone widespread breeding failures, highlighting the need for conservation action in this region. Identifying sites suitable for protection is one approach for seabird conservation. While breeding colonies are generally well protected across European countries, there remains a gap for important non-breeding and foraging sites. We analysed all available seabird tracking data for the Northeast Atlantic (www.seabirdtracking.org). This totaled 2,188 tracked individuals from 23 species, from 105 colonies across 11 countries in both the North and South Atlantic. We followed standardized methods of identifying marine hotspots based on tracking data and information on population abundance, in collaboration with more than 60 from researchers and data holders. We identified a seabird diversity and abundance hotspot in the middle of the North Atlantic, which was previously unknown. This area is an important pelagic foraging ground for at least 22 seabird species, including 7 globally or regionally threatened species. The area is particular important for migratory seabird species, with the highest concentrations occurring during the winter period (October-March) with up to 5 million individuals using the area. The spring summer period (April-September) saw the highest number of species using the area (n=21) and also saw large numbers of birds (up to 3.3 million), many as a stopover during trans-equatorial migrations. Protection of this 'seabird cafe' comes under the remit of the Regional Seas Convention for the North East Atlantic (OSPAR), who are considering the site as a marine protected area. Protection of this site would require collaboration between all OSPAR parties, as well as competent authorities operating in the region.

**Authors:**

Tammy Davies¹, Ana Carneiro¹, Maria Dias¹

¹BirdLife International

Identification and protection of a seabird cafe in the NE Atlantic

**Abstract:**

Seabirds are some of nature's greatest navigators, often traversing tens of thousands of kilometers a year over visually sparse terrain. The mechanisms by which this is achieved are, however, frustratingly elusive. In songbirds we know that long-distance movement is partly underpinned by an ability to sense the Earth's magnetic field, though outside of this clade evidence for magnetoreception is sparse and, in some instances, highly equivocal. There is, then, considerable interest in understanding a) whether seabirds use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate and b) if so, how? Here, we use historic ringing data to investigate whether Manx shearwaters (Puffinus puffinus) use magnetic cues when relocating their natal site following first migration. Using slight (but measurable) changes in the Earth's magnetic field, we find that changes in latitude between ringing and recovery are predicted by changes in the inclination of the Earth's magnetic field. We find that small changes in inclination between when a bird fledges and when it returns from first migration correlate with probabilistic changes in latitude at recruitment, in doing so quantitatively fulfilling a priori predictions as to the magnitude and direction of latitudinal shift. This, we believe, suggests that a) natal magnetic inclination is learnt prior to fledging and b) is used to provide latitudinal information when making the first return trip from the wintering grounds.

**Authors:**

Joe Wynn¹

¹University of Oxford

Magnetoreception in seabirds

**Abstract:**

Although Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) and Lesser Black-backed Gull (L. fuscus) are listed as Birds of Conservation Concern in Ireland, populations are thought to be increasing in urban areas, with associated concerns over the perceived nuisance they pose. Despite this, nothing is known about how individuals use the urban environment in Northern Ireland and how this may differ from their declining coastal counterparts. We used GPS GSM tags to track Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls nesting in Belfast during the breeding season to investigate their space-use and identify areas of potential human-gull conflict, providing information to the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute. Comparison was made with Herring Gulls from a nearby natural-nesting population. Time-In-Area and resource selection function analysis showed that roof-nesting gulls of both species predominantly used urban areas, travelling on average 4km from their nests. Individuals showed preferences for foraging in specific areas that were consistent between years, minimising overlap in their space use. In contrast, Herring Gulls from the natural-nesting population travelled further, exploiting agricultural habitats as well as urban areas. Although gulls have the ability to travel large distances to find food, gulls tracked around Belfast did not travel far from their nests and tended to focus their time in urban areas. Our tracking data show that urban areas in Northern Ireland provide safe nesting habitats for gulls and food resources which are used throughout the breeding season, both by roof-nesting individuals and by those from natural-nesting populations. The presence of foraging gulls within the urban environment may be a symptom of poor waste management in certain areas and these are issues that can be addressed to minimise human-gull conflict issues in the future as urban gull populations increase across the island of Ireland.

**Authors:**

Katherine Booth Jones¹, Chris Thaxter¹, Gary Clewley¹, Shane Wolsey¹, Phil Atkinson¹, Niall H. Burton¹

¹British Trust for Ornithology

How GPS tracking and monitoring are informing human-gull conflict issues in Belfast.

**Abstract:**

The ability of individuals and populations to adapt to a changing climate is a key determinant of population dynamics. While changes in mean behaviour are well studied, changes in trait variance have been largely ignored, despite being assumed to be crucial for adapting to a changing environment. As the ability to acquire resources is essential to both reproduction and survival, changes in behaviours that maximize resource acquisition should be under selection. Here, using foraging trip duration data collected over 7 years on black-browed albatrosses (Thalassarche melanophris) on the Kerguelen Islands in the southern Indian Ocean, we examined the importance of changes in the mean and variance in foraging behaviour, and the associated effects on fitness, in response to the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Using double hierarchical models, we found no evidence that individuals change their mean foraging trip duration in response to a changing environment, but found strong evidence of changes in variance. Younger birds showed greater variability in foraging trip duration in poor conditions as did birds with higher fitness. However, during brooding, birds showed greater variability in foraging behaviour under good conditions, suggesting that optimal conditions allow the alteration between chick provisioning and self-maintenance trips. We found weak correlations between sea surface temperature and the ENSO, but stronger links with sea-level pressure. We suggest that variability in behavioural traits affecting resource acquisition is under selection and offers a mechanism by which individuals can adapt to a changing climate. Studies which look only at effects on mean behaviour may underestimate the effects of climate change and fail to consider variance in traits as a key evolutionary force.

**Authors:**

Samantha Patrick¹, Julien Martin², Caroline Ummenhofer³, Alexandre Corbeau⁴, Henri Weimerskirch⁴

¹University of Liverpool, ²University of Ottawa, ³WHOI, ⁴CEBC-CNRS

Does personality mediate the reproductive consequences of broad-scale climate phenomena?

**Abstract:**

Arctic terns undertake the longest migration on earth, travelling from their breeding grounds in high latitudes of the northern hemisphere, to the overwintering grounds in Antarctica. This declining species covers distances greater than 90,000 km per year, travels across the planet's vast oceans and encounters more daylight than any other animal. Iceland provides important breeding grounds for arctic terns with 20-30% of the global population returning here annually; during four breeding seasons from 2018 to 2021 we deployed more than 100 biologgers at a large colony. These accelerometers, activity loggers and GPS tracking devices will reveal, with unprecedented accuracy, the flyways used by migrating arctic terns, the locations of key stopover sites, and activities in the Southern Ocean. We will identify the conservation landscape over this epic migration: highlighting areas where human conflict may occur, areas that are protected, and highlight locations that may need protection. The wind conditions that arctic terns encounter will be modelled, and we will determine whether they are using trade winds to aid the migratory flights. Activity loggers will identify how long they spend on the wing, and whether they are foraging on route or flying continuously to known foraging locations. We hypothesise that the migratory routes will be a mixture of those followed by tracked birds from The Netherlands and Greenland. How the routes and behaviours relate to morphology and sex will also be discussed.

**Authors:**

Joanne Morten¹, Julian Burgos², Lee Collins³, Sara Maxwell⁴, Eliza-Jane Morin⁵, Nicole Parr¹, William Thurston⁶, Freydís Vigfúsdóttir⁷, Matthew Witt¹, Lucy Hawkes¹

¹University of Exeter, ²Marine and Freshwater Research Institute, ³N/A, ⁴University of Washington, ⁵University of Westfjords, ⁶Met Office, ⁷University of Iceland

Unravelling the foraging behaviour of the world's longest migrant

**Abstract:**

Competition for high quality breeding sites in colonial seabird species is often intense, such that individuals may invest considerable time in site occupancy even outside of the breeding season. The site defence hypothesis predicts that site occupancy should be positively correlated with breeding phenology and success such that more successful sites are occupied earlier and/or more frequently. However, few studies have related non-breeding season attendance and subsequent breeding performance. Therefore, our understanding of the potential life-history benefits of this behaviour are limited. To address this, we used time-lapse photography to record the non-breeding attendance of >80 pairs of common guillemots, Uria aalge, breeding on the Isle of May, Scotland. Images were taken of sites every 15 minutes for three non-breeding seasons (start of October to end of March). We then recorded the time spent at each site, each day, each non-breeding season. We then followed breeding phenology and success at each site in the subsequent breeding season. Attendance at sites began in late October with sites gradually be attended more frequently and for longer until almost all sites were occupied for all daylight hours just prior to the breeding season (end March). We found that higher quality sites were occupied earlier and more often. Sites occupied more often had significantly earlier lay dates, and those occupied earlier were more successful, supporting the site defence hypothesis. These clear effects of non-breeding attendance on breeding timing and success highlight the potential fitness benefits of this behaviour on key life-history processes such a breeding.

**Authors:**

Sophie Bennett¹, Mike Harris¹, Sarah Wanless¹, Jonathan Green², Mark Newell¹, Kate Searle¹, Francis Daunt¹

¹UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, ²University of Liverpool

Colony attendance of common guillemots during the non-breeding season

**Abstract:**

Tracking individuals on repeated migratory journeys is proving key to understanding the evolutionary forces shaping migratory systems. The extent of between- and within- individual variation in migratory routes, timings, and stopovers of various species has important implications for the understanding of how migratory systems may alter in response to environmental changes. However, this approach has received little attention for seabirds wintering in the tropics, where individuals are often thought to perform less consistent migrations due to the lack of seasonally predictable food resources. Using a 10-year light level geolocator tracking dataset, comprised of 70 individuals with multiple consecutive non-breeding migrations, we will examine the between- and within- individual variation in migratory routes and timings of a tropical seabird, the Round Island petrel. This population of petrels in the Indian Ocean is a three-way hybrid complex consisting of one species from the Atlantic (Pterodroma arminjoniana), two species from the Pacific (P. heraldica and P. neglecta), and inter-specific hybrids. These tracking data reveal extraordinary levels of individual variation in ocean movements, with petrels undertaking non-breeding migrations to different areas across much of the Indian Ocean. Preliminary analysis on a small number of individuals has shown consistent individual differences in the start and end dates of petrel migration, and the routes taken. This, together with the fact that birds can be found breeding on Round Island all year round, means that individuals are potentially exposed to a very wide range of environmental conditions and human-associated impacts, with potentially important consequences for breeding success, survival and, ultimately, the status of this population.

**Authors:**

Kirsty Franklin¹, Ken Norris², Jennifer Gill¹, Norman Ratcliffe³, Simon Butler¹, Nik Cole⁴, Carl Jones⁴, Simeon Lisovski⁵, Kevin Ruhomaun⁶, Vikash Tatayah⁷, Malcolm Nicoll²

¹University of East Anglia, ²Zoological Society of London, ³British Antarctic Survey, ⁴Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, ⁵Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, ⁶National Parks and Conservation Service, ⁷Mauritian Wildlife Foundation

Between- and within- individual variation in the migration of a tropical seabird, the Round Island petrel

**Abstract:**

Marine ecosystems are complex, with interconnected natural and anthropogenic drivers influencing spatiotemporal patterns of marine predators. Resource availability is a key factor driving seabird movement and distribution, but information on prey availability is difficult to obtain at useful scales for understanding predator ecology. By using new techniques for estimating prey availability from digital aerial survey data, which capture the location and size of surface-level forage fish shoals, and estimating forage fish occupancy from bottom trawl survey data, we have new methods to describe prey availability for seabirds. This study explores links between seabirds and prey availability by examining Northern Gannets (Morus bassanus) movement in the U.S. Atlantic during the non-breeding season. Using satellite telemetry data from adult and juvenile Northern Gannets (n=75), we employed hidden Markov models to examine behavior states in relation to forage fish availability and environmental covariates. Here, we tested the importance of four types of environmental covariates: static (e.g., depth), dynamic (e.g., sea surface temperature), frontal (e.g., sea surfaced temperature fronts), and behavior-modulating (e.g., wind speed) in Northern Gannet transitions between behavioral states (resident and transiting). Our results suggest that static and dynamic environmental variables played significant roles in movement behavior, with chlorophyll a and depth influencing transitions between resident and transiting states. While frontal features were not as important overall, sea surface temperature fronts specifically played a role in facilitating behavioral transitions. While we expect many of these environmental covariates to be related to forage fish availability, the next step is to use the forage fish occupancy and availability estimates to determine if they improve our understanding of Northern Gannet behavior. Disentangling trophic relationships is critical to understanding the mechanisms driving seabird behavior and space use, particularly in ecosystems that are rapidly changing due to climate and energy development.

**Authors:**

Julia Gulka¹, Evan Adams¹, Alicia Berlin², Kevin Friedland³, Andrew Gilbert¹, Chandra Goetsch¹, William Montevecchi⁴, Matthew Perry², Iain Stenhouse¹, Kate Williams¹

¹Biodiversity Research Institute, ²U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, ³National Marine Fisheries Service, ⁴Memorial University

Assessing trophic links, individual movement, and habitat use of non-breeding Northern Gannets

**Abstract:**

Small marine radars have been used for many years to study birds, bats, and insects. Though almost all of these studies have been terrestrial, radar has a number of compelling advantages as a method for studying seabirds, especially at colonies. Marine radars are inexpensive and robust, and can be set up to record automatically. Radar can detect and track both aggregations and individual birds with high resolution, and can operate in darkness and fog. It does not require telemetry devices, and can thus track the movements of an entire population rather than a small number of tagged animals. Despite these advantages, monitoring seabird colonies with radar involves a number of challenges. The detection range is limited to a few km, and radar reflections from the sea surface are a persistent source of interference and false detections. In general, species identification is not possible from radar data alone. And while it is possible to track hundreds of birds at once with a single radar, the data processing involved is non-trivial. I will present techniques and lessons learned from a radar study of a common tern (Sterna hirundo) colony in New York, USA in 2014-15, illustrating the challenges and capabilities of radar monitoring in this context. I will also discuss future possibilities for this technology, including both technological developments and applications for science and conservation. Despite their limitations, radars provide a view of seabird behavior unavailable with other technologies, and can play a unique and important role in the future of seabird ecology.

**Authors:**

Samuel Urmy¹

¹Stony Brook University

Monitoring colonial seabirds with commercial marine radars

**Abstract:**

The Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus is the most rapidly declining breeding seabirds species in the UK, with losses of around 82% since the mid-1980s being reported. Typically these species obtain the vast majority of their food via kleptoparasitism of other seabirds around their breeding territories, many of which are also showing losses although not to the same extent. They are also long distance migrants, with ringing recoveries from the UK being reported across the whole extent of the Atlantic. To help provide some insight into the mechanisms underlying these dramatic changes, we instigated a tracking programme to look at foraging behaviour during the breeding season as well as the migration routes and wintering location at two colonies in Scotland - Fair Isle and Rousay. Arctic Skuas from Fair Isle, which have tended to have poor hatching success, were travelling up to 200 km away from the colony during incubation. Long foraging ranges are indicative of low food availability and similar routes were also recorded by target host species in recent years. Whereas birds from Rousay, which usually have had higher breeding success, generally travelled shorter distances during the same period. Birds from Rousay which successfully fledged chicks tended to forage up to 70 km to the north-west of the colony in an area with specific oceanographic features and designated as a Marine Protected Area for larvae Sandeel - a key fish species. Unsuccessful birds tended to forage elsewhere. We will discuss why these differences should arise with respect to possible differences in foraging behaviours between individual birds. There was clear variation in bird's choice of wintering areas with individuals from the same colonies ranging from South America, Southern and Western Africa. Therefore conservation measures for birds in the UK might be best focused around their breeding colonies.

**Authors:**

Liz Humphreys¹, Sarah Harris², Helen Aiton¹, David Aiton¹, Chris Thaxter², Dawn Balmer², Calladine John¹

¹British Trust for Ornithology, Scotland, ²British Trust for Ornithology

Widespread but infrequent deep diving in a mollymawk albatross

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Widespread but infrequent deep diving in a mollymawk albatross

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Identification and protection of a seabird cafe in the NE Atlantic

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Does personality mediate the reproductive consequences of broad-scale climate phenomena?

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