Least Auklet (Aethia pusilla)

Prebreeding, subadult seabirds have been documented prospecting or visiting multiple sites throughout the breeding season to gather information on colony reproductive success, identify suitable habitat, evaluate prey abundance, and locate potential partners; however, many aspects of prospector biology remain unknown. We explored prospector behaviour as a means of furthering our understanding of postnatal seabird dispersal and colony attendance using Least Auklets (Aethia pusilla (Pallas, 1811)) and Crested Auklets (Aethia cristatella (Pallas, 1769)) breeding at Gareloi Island, Alaska, in 2014 and 2015. We recorded age class, length of time spent on the colony, and behaviour for individuals attending a study plot over the course of two breeding seasons. Although prospectors typically spent more time on the colony surface than adults, prospectors rarely socialized with conspecifics during their visits to the colony, possibly due to the absence of a citrus-like feather odour used in olfactory communication. Additionally, we found substantial differences between observed and predicted data between years, demonstrating that other factors (likely prey abundance or quality) influenced behaviour in 2015. Our results suggest that the collective knowledge of seabird prospecting behaviour is not necessarily transferable between taxa and there may be a range of strategies employed by prospectors when assessing colonies.

Download Full-text

Use of Culture-Independent Methods to Compare Bacterial Assemblages on Feathers of Crested and Least Auklets (Aethia cristatella and Aethia pusilla) with Those of Passerines

Waterbirds ◽

10.1675/1524-4695(2006)29[507:uocmtc]2.0.co;2 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 507-511 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Matthew D. Shawkey ◽

M. Jawaad Hussain ◽

Aaron L. Strong ◽

Julie C. Hagelin ◽

Amy C. Vollmer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Aethia Pusilla ◽

Aethia Cristatella ◽

Culture Independent ◽

Bacterial Assemblages

Download Full-text

Least Auklet (Aethia pusilla)

10.2173/bna.leaauk.02 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Alexander L. Bond ◽

Ian L. Jones ◽

Sampath Seneviratne ◽

Sabir Bin Muzaffar

Keyword(s):

Aethia Pusilla

Download Full-text

Aethia pusilla: BirdLife International

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species ◽

10.2305/iucn.uk.2012-1.rlts.t22694921a38907217.en ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Keyword(s):

Aethia Pusilla

Download Full-text

Hexachlorocyclohexane and DDT in marine organisms from the Bering and the Okhotsk Seas

Izvestiya TINRO ◽

10.26428/1606-9919-2014-176-5-10 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 176 (1) ◽

pp. 225-232

Author(s):

Vasily Yu. Tsygankov ◽

Margarita D. Boyarova ◽

Olga N. Lukyanova ◽

Nadezhda K. Khristoforova

Keyword(s):

Marine Mammals ◽

Chum Salmon ◽

Pink Salmon ◽

Oncorhynchus Keta ◽

Toxic Substances ◽

Crested Auklet ◽

Odobenus Rosmarus Divergens ◽

The North ◽

Aethia Pusilla ◽

Aethia Cristatella

Organochlorine pesticides (HCHs and DDT) are harmful and toxic substances affected biota. HCHs and DDT are still used as pesticides in the Southern Hemisphere and from there can reach the North Pacific due to atmospheric transfer. Isomers of HCH and DDT and their metabolites were detected in organs of some marine mammals ( Eschrichtius robustus, Odobenus rosmarus divergens ) from the Bering Sea; the maximum concentration was found in the walrus liver (90263 ng/g lipids). To trace these pollutants spreading in the Okhotsk Sea, the seabirds (Pacific gull Larus schistisagus, crested auklet Aethia cristatella, auklet crumb Aethia pusilla, northern fulmar Fulmarus glacialis, and grey petrel Oceanodroma furcata ) and fishes (pink salmon Oncorhynchus gorbusсha and chum salmon Oncorhynchus keta ) were sampled; the pesticides concentration in the birds tissues ranges from 29 ng/g lipids in plume of the fulmar to 16095 ng/g lipids in plume and skin of the auklet and in the salmons tissues - from 220-330 ng/g lipids for the pink salmon to 550-790 ng/g lipids for the chum salmon (both fish species were caught at Kuril Islands).

Download Full-text