New Longevity Record for Ivory Gulls (<i>Pagophila eburnea</i>) and Evidence of Natal Philopatry

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Ivory gulls (Pagophila eburnea) have been listed as "endangered" in Canada and "near threatened" internationally. In June 2010, we visited Seymour Island, Nunavut, Canada, where gulls were banded in the 1970s and 1980s. We recaptured and released two breeding gulls banded as chicks in 1983, confirming natal philopatry to this breeding colony. These gulls are more than 28 years old, making the ivory gull one of the longest-living marine bird species known in North America.Key words: ivory gull, Pagophila eburnea, Nunavut, banding RÉSUMÉ. La mouette blanche (Pagophila eburnea) figure sur la liste des espèces « en voie de disparition » sur la scène canadienne et des espèces « quasi menacées » sur la scène internationale. En juin 2010, nous sommes allés à l'île Seymour, au Nunavut, Canada, où des mouettes avaient été baguées dans le courant des années 1970 et 1980. Nous avons recapturé et relâché deux mouettes reproductrices qui étaient considérées comme des oisillons en 1983, ce qui nous a permis de confirmer la philopatrie natale de cette colonie de nidification. Ces mouettes blanches ont plus de 28 ans, ce qui en fait l'un des oiseaux aquatiques vivant le plus longtemps en Amérique du Nord.Mots clés : mouette blanche, Pagophila eburnea, Nunavut, baguage Traduit pour la revue Arctic par Nicole Giguère.

Mercury concentrations in feathers of marine birds in Arctic Canada

“…We wanted to compare Hg concentrations in feathers that had been grown by marine birds while in the Arctic, and presumably when relying on foods acquired in the Arctic to supply much of the nutrients for feather growth (although some Hg would reflect longer-term concentrations in the body from year-round exposure). Consequently, we referred to published guides reporting the known feather molt patterns of these species (Ginn and Melville, 1983;Gaston and Hipfner, 2000;Goudie et al, 2000;Mallory et al, 2008bMallory et al, , 2012aWeiser and Gilchrist, 2012) to select feathers grown while the birds were in the Arctic. For all species, this meant analyzing one of their inner primary (flight) feathers, which would have been among those grown during or shortly after the previous breeding season prior to southward migration.…”

“…Primary feathers (position 1, 2 or 3) were collected for analysis from carcasses of thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia; n = 10), northern fulmar (n = 10), and black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla; n = 2) at Prince Leopold Island (74°N, 90°W) in 2009 as part of an International Polar Year project (Gaston et al, 2011). Shed feathers of ivory gull (P. eburnea; n = 8) were collected in 2010 from eight different nests on Seymour Island (Mallory et al, 2012a); these were mostly primary feathers (estimated positions 2-5), although some body feathers and tertials were collected. Primary feathers (position 2, 3 of three birds, position 4, 5 of one bird) of glaucous gull (L. hyperboreus; n = 4) were sampled in 2010 from carcasses collected from Nasaruvaalik Island (75.8°N, 96.3°W) as part of a long-term study at that site (Mallory et al, 2012b).…”

High connectivity in a long-lived high-Arctic seabird, the ivory gull Pagophila eburnea

“…Such long-distance dispersal events or 576 reshuffling of individuals on the pre-breeding flyways may be sufficient to eliminate the traces of regional structure among populations. The fidelity of ivory gulls to the breeding site is unknown but at least some marked individuals return to the same breeding colony from one year to the next (MacDonald 1976), and an example of extreme breeding site fidelity has been 580 reported (Mallory et al 2012). Populations that breed on flat land of Russia, where the highest census population size are observed (Table 3), are often prone to move from site to site (de 582 Korte and Volkov 1993).…”