Variability in Foraging Behavior and Implications for Diet Breadth among Semipalmated Sandpipers Staging in the Upper Bay of Fundy

The Condor ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 114 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-144 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foraging Behavior ◽  
Diet Breadth ◽  
Bay Of Fundy ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpipers

Variation in diet of Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) during stopover in the upper Bay of Fundy, Canada

2012 ◽  
Vol 90 (9) ◽  
pp. 1181-1190 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.T. Quinn ◽  
D.J. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Diet Composition ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
Prey Selection ◽  
Bay Of Fundy ◽  
Corophium Volutator ◽  
Stopover Site ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpiper ◽  
Calidris Pusilla ◽  
Isotope Analyses ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpipers

Semipalmated Sandpipers ( Calidris pusilla (L., 1766)) use the upper Bay of Fundy, Canada, as a critical stopover site during their annual fall migration to wintering grounds in South America. While in the area, they feed extensively on mudflat invertebrates. Historically the amphipod Corophium volutator (Pallas, 1766) has been thought to make up the majority of their diet. However, we have recently observed flexibility in foraging behaviour and prey selection by sandpipers. The extent of this flexibility and the current diet composition is unknown. To address these knowledge gaps, we assessed Semipalmated Sandpiper diets using stable isotope analyses of blood plasma and available prey items. Data were collected in two arms of the Bay of Fundy during summer 2009 and 2010. Diets fluctuated between years and sites, but in all cases the diet was much more diverse than previously thought. Polychaetes and biofilm made substantial contributions, and C. volutator was still present in the diet, but at much reduced levels than previously noted. This previously unrecognized inclusion of biofilm in the diet is consistent with recent observations of other calidrid shorebirds. Based on measures of prey availability, there is little evidence of preference for C. volutator.

Some aspects of the foraging ecology of migrant juvenile sandpipers in the outer Bay of Fundy

1984 ◽  
Vol 62 (9) ◽  
pp. 1889-1892 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. W. Gratto ◽  
M. L. H. Thomas ◽  
C. L. Gratto
Keyword(s):  
Benthic Invertebrates ◽  
Foraging Ecology ◽  
Bay Of Fundy ◽  
Large Prey ◽  
Intertidal Flat ◽  
Corophium Volutator ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpipers ◽  
Size Refuge

Thirty-seven sandpipers (29 semipalmated and 8 least) were collected in early September 1983 on an intertidal flat on the outer Bay of Fundy. Analysis of esophagus and gizzard contents revealed a variety of benthic invertebrates but the diets of both species were dominated by the amphipod Corophium volutator (Pallas). Females of both species ate larger Corophium than did males of the same species. Both least and semipalmated sandpipers were underutilizing a cohort of large (7–10 mm) Corophium. It is possible that the large amphipods have reached a size refuge from predation such that the energy required to handle and ingest these large prey offsets too great a portion of the energy obtained.

Are disproportionate losses of eastern breeding Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) driving declines in the upper Bay of Fundy, Canada?

10.1676/17-63 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 131 (2) ◽  
pp. 260
Author(s):  
Sydney E. Bliss ◽  
Diana J. Hamilton ◽  
Cheri Gratto-Trevor ◽  
Julie Paquet
Keyword(s):  
Bay Of Fundy ◽  
Calidris Pusilla ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpipers
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