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Arctic Terns Sterna Paradisaea from the Netherlands Migrate Record Distances Across Three Oceans to Wilkes Land, East Antarctica

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Arctic Terns Sterna Paradisaea from the Netherlands Migrate Record Distances Across Three Oceans to Wilkes Land, East Antarctica Arctic Terns Sterna paradisaea from The Netherlands migrate record distances across three oceans to Wilkes Land, East Antarctica Ruben C. Fijn1,*, Derick Hiemstra2, Richard A. Phillips3 & Jan van der Winden1 Fijn R.C., Hiemstra D., Phillips R.A. & van der Winden J. 2013. Arctic Terns Sterna paradisaea from The Netherlands migrate record distances across three oceans to Wilkes Land, East Antarctica. Ardea 101: 3–12. Arctic Terns Sterna paradisaea have an exceptionally long-distance migration, annually travelling back and forth between the Arctic and the Antarctic. Birds from Greenland, Iceland and the USA were recently found to spend most of the non-breeding period in the Weddell Sea, a small part of the large Antarctic range of Arctic Terns. Based on ring recoveries and sightings of West European Arctic Terns in the Indian Ocean and Australian waters, we expected that terns from The Netherlands (the southern limit of the breeding range) inhabit different Antarctic regions during the non-breeding season to their conspecifics from Greenland. To find out, geolocators were deployed on seven Arctic Terns captured on the nest in 2011 in The Netherlands. All birds were recaptured in 2012 and five devices yielded information on migration routes. The tracked terns spent on average 273 ± 7 days away from The Netherlands, and visited known staging areas in the North Atlantic and the Benguela Current, on both the outward and return journey. Similar tracks were observed in the terns from Greenland. However, hereafter the terns from The Netherlands moved to a previously unknown staging area in the central Indian Ocean, between 20–40°N and 65–100°E, and spent most of the non-breeding season in the Southern Ocean between 35–150°E. One bird migrated as far as New Zealand. Eventually, all five birds spent the austral summer in Wilkes Land, Antarctica, before flying back to the breeding colonies with a small detour to the same North Atlantic staging area they visited on their southward migration. The total travel distance in the course of the non-breeding period was ~90,000 ± 2000 km, which substantially exceeds previous estimates for this species. Our study revealed new offshore staging areas and a yet unknown route through three different oceans, the longest bird migration described thus far. Key words: Antarctica, Indian Ocean, Australian Antarctic Sector, longest bird migration distance, distance, migration strategies, geolocation, at-sea hotspots, stopover sites 1Bureau Waardenburg, Consultants for Ecology and Environment, P.O. Box 365, 4100 AJ Culemborg, The Netherlands; 2Koartwald 13, 9283 TW Surhuizum, The Netherlands; 3British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Madingley Road, High Cross, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB3 0ET, United Kingdom; *corresponding author ([email protected]) Arctic Terns have a mirrored distribution with a circum- Gudmundsson et al. 1992, Bourne & Casement 1996). polar Arctic range during the breeding season and a The first comprehensive review was based on sightings circumpolar Antarctic range during the non-breeding and ring recoveries by Salomonsen (1967). He suggest- season (Salomonsen 1967, Cramp 1985). Over the ed that birds from different breeding areas within the years a variety of theories have been formulated about Atlantic flyway merge during their southerly journeys. Arctic Tern migration routes and their non-breeding Nevertheless, it remained unknown whether terns from range (Austin 1928, Salomonsen 1967, Alerstam 1985, different breeding origins also remain mixed upon 4 ARDEA 101(1), 2013 arrival in Antarctic waters, or segregate into different staging areas along the routes and located the Antarctic parts of the Antarctic. non-breeding range of terns from two North Sea breed- Ring recoveries have previously shown that Arctic ing colonies. Terns perform the longest avian migration (e.g. Morgan 2004, Bønløkke et al. 2006). Only recently, Egevang et al. (2010) revealed the full extent of Arctic Tern migra- METHODS tion with the use of tracking devices. Terns deployed with geolocators migrated from the high Arctic breed- Seven Arctic Terns were caught on the nest on 3 June ing grounds in East Greenland and Iceland via various 2011 in two different mixed colonies of Arctic and routes and staging sites to the non-breeding areas in Common Terns Sterna hirundo situated on industrial the Antarctic Weddell Sea. The Weddell Sea is an area estates in The Netherlands. Both colonies are moni- with high densities of Arctic Terns (Bierman & Voous tored intensively and many colour-ringed individuals in 1950, Cline et al. 1969). Other recent tracking studies the population are annually re-sighted (DH, unpubl. on Arctic Terns breeding in West Greenland (High data). This enabled us to select birds with a high recap- Arctic Institute 2013) and in Maine (U.S. Fish & ture probability. Three birds were captured in Delfzijl Wildlife Service 2013) resulted in similar migration (53.45°N 6.82°E) and four birds in Eemshaven routes and a similar non-breeding range. So far no (53.33°N 6.94°E), using walk-in traps. After standard Arctic Terns deployed with geolocators have been biometric measurements were taken, we fitted a colour recorded in East Antarctica during the non-breeding ring to the leg with an archival light logger (MK20 season, although Salomonsen (1967), indicated that geolocators; British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK) the region between c.55°E and c. 150°E in East attached to the ring using Kevlar string and glue (mass Antarctica hosts many Arctic Terns. This is congruent of both rings, logger, string and glue: 1.5 g, ~1.3% of with at-sea surveys in this region (van Oordt & Kruijt body mass). 1954, Veit & Hunt Jr. 1991) and a ring recovery from a Light data was downloaded from retrieved loggers Danish bird in Wilkes Land, East Antarctica (Bønløkke and processed using BASTrak software (British et al. 2006). Moreover, most of the ring recoveries in Antarctic Survey). Transitions in light curves around Australasian waters (Gwynn 1968) involved birds from dawn and dusk were assessed in TransEdit2 using a West European countries such as the United Kingdom light threshold of 10. Two locations per day were calcu- (Monaghan 2002), Denmark (Bønløkke et al. 2006) lated in Locator using an angle of elevation of –3.3° and Sweden (Morgan 2004). Also, some Arctic Terns (based on three weeks of calibration data in LocatorAid ringed in The Netherlands were recovered on the for a known location) and applying the compensation Indian Ocean coast of South Africa (Vogeltrekstation for rapid movement, a tool within Locator. In this tool, 2013). This presumed contrast in non-breeding distri- the longitudinal speed is first calculated since the last bution of Arctic Terns breeding in the western and east- position. Assuming the bird moved at this speed during ern North Atlantic would indicate parallel longitudinal the day/night length between the two transitions used migration patterns characteristic for many other bird for the current position, the time gained/lost species (Newton 2010). (West/East) due to this movement is subtracted/added Using miniature light loggers, we addressed the to the day or night length and the latitude recalculated question of how Arctic Terns breeding in the eastern (BAS 2010). Locations were unavailable during periods North Atlantic (the North Sea) fit in the distribution of the year when birds experienced daylight 24 hours a patterns of Arctic Terns along the Antarctic coasts. The day. This occurred for approximately three weeks tagged birds originated from a small, declining popula- around mid-late December depending on the position tion in The Netherlands at the southern edge of the of the bird in that period. Calculated latitudes around North European breeding range. Our specific study equinoxes are unreliable and locations were excluded, colony was located respectively 3000 km and 5000 km as appropriate, based on visual examination. southeast and east of the colonies in Greenland and Noticeable disruptions in light curves were noted Maine where the previously studied terns were breed- during processing and those associated with unlikely ing (Egevang et al. 2010, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service locations were also excluded. The accuracy of the 2013). Consequently, we expected the terns from this retained locations was assumed to be ~180 km colony in The Netherlands to differ in timing of migra- (Phillips et al. 2004). Missing locations or missing lati- tion and the use of staging areas. We indeed discovered tudes were interpolated assuming a straight-line path new migration routes in Arctic Terns. We identified new between the preceding and succeeding valid fixes, for a Fijn et al.: ARCTIC TERN MIGRATION 5 total of 220 out of 1640 days (mean ± SD of 13 ± travelled during a staging period or in the non-breeding 2.2%, range: 9.9–15.8 of locations, n = 5 birds). area, divided by time spent in those areas. Throughout All geographical coordinates derived in this way the paper, the parameters distance (km) and time (day) were stored in WGS84 datum and projected in an Aitoff are given in means ± SD. projection (azimuthal equidistant). All subsequent spatial analysis and mapping were based on these projected data. We distinguished two categories of loca- RESULTS tions by inspecting subsequent positions: “movements” and “stationary periods” (breeding range, staging area, In 2012, all seven birds fitted with a geolocator in 2011 non-breeding range). If birds did not continue their were recaptured in the colonies. Five loggers were flight in a chosen direction, that is: were present for at retrieved. In two birds the logger had become detached least two and a half days or five positions (cf. Guilford from the colour ring by wear and tear. All birds were et al. 2009) within a region, we decided to classify this recaptured during the incubation stage, were in good location as “stationary period”.
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