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- Title
PATTERNS OF SCAVENGING ON BIRD CARCASSES IN A COASTAL SUBTROPICAL ENVIRONMENT.
- Authors
KERSTETTER, DAVID W.; HARDY, GARRETT A.; JOHN, LAURA
- Abstract
There is a need for more information about the mortality of birds using the Atlantic Flyway during migration. One way to evaluate mortality is to monitor the number of carcasses, but bird carcasses are rarely seen in southeast Florida coastal ecosystems, presumably because of a high rate of scavenging. We used infrared automatic game cameras baited with frozen feeder Chickens (Gallus domesticus) to assess the scavenging communities in two common southeast Florida coastal subtropical land cover types during the dry (migratory) season: wet intertidal grounds around mangrove roots and dry grounds above the high tide line around trees, coastal shrubs, and grasses. Regardless of individual size, almost all carcasses were removed within 12 hours of being deployed, and all were removed within 24 hours. The three most sighted scavenging species were Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), common raccoon (Procyon lotor), and marsh rice rat (Oryzomys palustris) in both cover types. We observed only one photo of one domestic cat (Felis catus) over all the deployments, despite local agency concern about bird predation by large feral cat populations in the region. Because of the high rate of local scavenging and rapidity of removals, observed carcass numbers in natural coastal ecosystems is not recommended as a direct mortality proxy for migratory bird species in southeast Florida.
- Subjects
FLORIDA; RACCOON; MIGRATORY animals; CATS; NATURAL numbers; CHICKENS; FERAL cats; BIRD populations; MIGRATORY birds; MANGROVE ecology
- Publication
Florida Field Naturalist, 2023, Vol 51, Issue 3, p45
- ISSN
0738-999X
- Publication type
Article