Landfill meals are quick & easy for young eagles, but hold a host of toxic dangers.
Bird expert Bryan Watts at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg has studied bald eagles in the Chesapeake Bay region for years, and now has published a paper on his study of their landfill eating habits in the Journal of Raptor Research. Watts is founder and director of the college's Center for Conservation Biology.
What his study found is that hatch-year birds feast on landfills six times more often than adults, and twice as often as third- or fourth-year birds. By the time they mature around age 5 and have developed into more efficient hunters, they shift to a healthier fresh-meat diet.
http://www.dailypress.com/news/science/dp-nws-eaglets-junk-food-20151012-story.htmlHere's the CCB news story about the research with many more details.
http://www.ccbbirds.org/2015/09/24/young-eagles-are-more-likely-to-eat-junk-food/And here's the abstract of the study. The paper itself is not an open source document.
Landfill Use by Bald Eagles in the Chesapeake Bay Region
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Courtney Turrin1, Bryan D. Watts, and Elizabeth K. Mojica
Center for Conservation Biology, College of William and Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University, Williamsburg, VA 23187 U.S.A.
1 E-mail address:
[email protected]Associate Editor: Chris W. Briggs
Abstract
We examined patterns in the use of landfills (rubbish dumps) in the Chesapeake Bay by Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). Sites of solid waste landfills (n = 72) were located using state databases. Satellite tracking data from 64 eagles were used to track eagle movements hourly during daylight and once at midnight to determine roosting locations (2007?2012). Landfill use varied significantly with age class, with hatch-year birds using landfills six times more often than adults and twice as often as third- and fourth-year birds. Hatch-year birds spent significantly more time at landfills than expected based on landfill area relative to the study area outside of landfills. The relationship between time of year and eagle presence at landfills was not significant, though the results suggest a peak in landfill use in the late fall. There was spatial variation in landfill use, with 10% of the landfills used by study birds receiving 75% of the total landfill use. Landfills within two km of communal roosts received significantly more eagle activity than landfills farther from communal roosting sites. If eagle presence at landfills is indicative of foraging at these sites, the results provide evidence that foraging strategies in Bald Eagles change with age. Landfills may serve as important scavenging sites for hatch-year and second-year eagles, whereas older birds may be more successful obtaining higher quality prey elsewhere.
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Topic: New developments in the field of science (Read 204826 times)