Foraging behaviour of wintering shorebirds at Merja Zerga lagoon (Atlantic coast, Morocco)

Touhami, Feirouz; Idrissi, Hamid Rguibi; Benhoussa, Abdelaziz

doi:10.2989/00306525.2020.1774439

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…In Morocco, ornithology studies started in the early decades of the 20th century 1976 (Smith 1965;Thévenot 1976;Ater et al 2008;Cherkaoui et al 2009). These studies have investigated terrestrial and aquatic birds from the Mediterranean coasts to the extreme Southern Atlantic coasts (Green et al 2002;Hilgerloh et al 2006;Ouassou et al 2018;Squalli et al 2020;Touhami et al 2020;Salai et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The avifauna of two high atlas valleys: breeding assemblages in forest stands and open lands

Mounir

Dakki

Douini

et al. 2022

JABB

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The avifauna of two high atlas valleys: breeding assemblages in forest stands and open lands

Mounir

Dakki

Douini

et al. 2022

JABB

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“…The presence of mechanoreceptors in shorebird's bill tip aids in detecting the seismic reactions of the benthic invertebrates that hide beneath the foraging substrates (Zweers & Gerritsen, 1997;Durell, 2000;Cunningham et al, 2010). Previous studies reported that probing could be more rewarding compared to pecking, as the birds can feed on greater yet profitable prey in return (Zweers, 1991;Mouritsen & Jensen, 1992;Ntiamoa-Baidu et al, 1998;Norazlimi & Ramli, 2015;Touhami et al, 2020). Our results revealed that Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit, and Terek Sandpiper often performed probing when locating prey, with an average of 7 probes per min.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…Previous studies categorised the shorebird's foraging strategies into tactile, visual, and pause-travel, each represented by the key behaviours of pecking, probing, and scanning-pecking (Barbosa, 1995;Norazlimi & Ramli, 2015). Both Whimbrel and Bar-tailed Godwit are recorded as tactile foragers, while Terek Sandpiper was reported to hunt visually (Jing et al, 2007;Norazlimi & Ramli, 2015;Touhami et al, 2020). In contrast with previous reports, our results showed that Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit, and Terek Sandpiper adopted mixed foraging strategies comprising both pecking and probing techniques, probably indicating that these species are versatile foragers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foraging Behaviour of Three Shorebird Species on Coastal Mudflats of Southwestern Sarawak

Ng,

Ramji,

Grinang

et al. 2024

MAB

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Many shorebirds are long-distance migrants and they congregate on intertidal mudflats for feeding throughout their non-breeding season. Despite being one of the key staging sites for migratory shorebirds, data on shorebirds foraging ecology in Sarawak is insufficient for the understanding of the interaction between shorebirds and their behaviour. This study aimed to determine the foraging behaviour of Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica) and Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus) at Asajaya and Buntal mudflats. Data collection of this study was conducted at low tide, during two non-breeding seasons with a total of 12 months of sampling. Focal observations were conducted within a 50 m × 50 m quadrat. A total of 8 exclusive foraging techniques were observed for the three shorebird species, including: pecking, probing, picking, stabbing, snapping, submerging, sweeping and ingesting. Terek Sandpiper displayed all the exclusive foraging behaviours, whereas Whimbrel and Bar-tailed Godwit showed 7 and 5 behaviours, respectively. The three shorebirds also displayed non-exclusive foraging behaviours such as walking, preening and defecating. Spearman correlation test indicates a positive correlation between the foraging behaviours performed among three shorebird species. All three shorebird species adopted similar mixed foraging strategies comprising pecking and probing, with an exception on supplementary behaviours observed in Whimbrel and Terek Sandpiper. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) analysis showed a strong correlation between picking and ingesting behaviours, suggesting a high chance of foraging success with the presence of picking behaviour. The outcome of this study is crucial in understanding how shorebirds maximise their behavioural performance when foraging as well as to assist in formulating better conservation strategies for targeted migratory shorebird species and coastal mudflats.

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“…Technological advances for close observation of waders' foraging behaviour using video recording (Touhami et al 2020), as well as their movement and activity patterns using fine-scale GPS and accelerometer logging (Schwemmer et al 2016, van der Kolk et al 2020) provide a promising avenue for calibrating and refining foraging models. Because benthic surveys are time-consuming and birds do not necessarily select those areas where prey is most abundant or of the highest quality (Zwarts & Wanink 1993), modelling approaches such as ours could help assess which wetland areas could be the most profitable for different types of foraging waders.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Technological advances for close observation of waders' foraging behaviour using video recording (Touhami et al . 2020), as well as their movement and activity patterns using fine‐scale GPS and accelerometer logging (Schwemmer et al . 2016, van der Kolk et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Horizontal prey distribution determines the foraging performance of short‐ and long‐billed waders in virtual resource landscapes

Deboelpaep,

Pint,

Koedam

et al. 2023

Ibis

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When waders gather in mixed‐species flocks to feed on benthic prey, differences in morphological traits, foraging strategies and prey selection may allow different species to optimize their energy intake while reducing competition. As the effect of the fine‐scale spatial distribution of resources on energy intake is unknown, we simulated the foraging performance of two types of waders with contrasting body plans and foraging strategies in a variety of virtual mudflats with different horizontal and vertical prey distribution patterns. Although larger, longer‐billed individuals had higher energy intake rates, smaller individuals with shorter bills maintained higher prey capture rates by relocating if prey was insufficiently available. Shorter‐billed individuals struggled more to meet their energetic demands because they selected smaller prey items and had a more limited capacity to metabolize energy from food. Being able to catch larger, high‐quality prey offered a competitive advantage for longer‐billed individuals, which could be a driving force for the evolutionary lengthening of bills in waders. Interestingly, their performance was more affected by the horizontal than by the vertical prey distribution. Quantifying prey distributions may help explain how some wader species can co‐occur in the field and why some wetland areas are unattractive as foraging areas. The work confirms that the foraging performance of larger, longer‐billed birds is not limited by bill size per se, but by the energetic trade‐offs associated with the ability to catch larger prey items more efficiently, increased handling times and higher absolute energy costs. These trade‐offs may become particularly important in landscapes where prey is scarce and spatially patchy.

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Foraging behaviour of wintering shorebirds at Merja Zerga lagoon (Atlantic coast, Morocco)

Cited by 8 publications

References 42 publications

The avifauna of two high atlas valleys: breeding assemblages in forest stands and open lands

The avifauna of two high atlas valleys: breeding assemblages in forest stands and open lands

Foraging Behaviour of Three Shorebird Species on Coastal Mudflats of Southwestern Sarawak

Horizontal prey distribution determines the foraging performance of short‐ and long‐billed waders in virtual resource landscapes

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