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Volume 53, No. 1

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The owl gull: exclusively nocturnal foraging by the Swallow-tailed Gull Creagrus furcatus in Galápagos.


Authors

SEBASTIAN M. CRUZ1,4*, LUKE R. HALPIN2, CAROLINA PROAÑO1,4, DAVID J. ANDERSON3, & MARTIN WIKELSKI4,5
1Independent Researcher, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador *(cruz.seb@gmail.com)
2Gulbali Research Institute, Charles Sturt University, Albury, New South Wales, Australia
3Wake Forest University, Department of Biology, Winston Salem, USA
4Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Am Obstberg 1, Radolfzell, Germany
5University of Konstanz, Department of Biology, Konstanz, Germany

Citation

Cruz, S. M., Halpin, L. R., Proaño, C., Anderson, D. J., & Wikelski, M. 2025. The owl gull: exclusively nocturnal foraging by the Swallow-tailed Gull Creagrus furcatus in Galápagos.. Marine Ornithology 53: 67 - 73
http://doi.org/10.5038/2074-1235.53.1.1626

Received 09 July 2024, accepted 09 September 2024

Date Published: 2025/04/15
Date Online: 2025/03/09
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Key words: nocturnal foraging, GPS tracking, diel vertical migration, spatial fidelity, Galápagos Marine Reserve

Abstract

Colony-based observations indicate that Swallow-tailed Gulls Creagrus furcatus go to sea only at night. Here, we use GPS tracking technology to reveal the species' exclusively nocturnal foraging behavior at four colonies in the Galápagos Islands. All nocturnal trips proved to be foraging effort in pelagic waters 19-103 km from nests during breeding. While at sea, individuals spent approximately one-quarter of their time commuting, with half of the time dedicated to area-restricted search behavior. Three years of data from one colony indicate spatial fidelity to a general foraging area. Our research directly confirms that Swallow-tailed Gulls are the only obligate nocturnal foragers among Laridae and contributes to our understanding of nocturnal foraging strategies in tropical seabirds.

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