Human Disturbances to Waterfowl
Annotated Bibliography
Energetic cost of man-induced disturbance to fall-staging snow geese in Québec was estimated. Two responses of birds to disturbance were considered: (1) birds fly away but promptly resume feeding following a disturbance (Response A), and (2) birds interrupt feeding altogether (Response B). Daylight foraging time decreased by 4% to 51% depending on disturbance levels. Average rate of disturbance (1.46/hr) in Response A resulted in a 5.3% increase in hourly energy expenditure (HEE) combined with a 1.6% reduction of hourly metabolizable energy intake (HMEI). In Response B, HEE increased by 3.4% and HMEI decreased by 2.9% to 19.4%. A 4% increase in night feeding could compensate for energy losses caused solely by disturbance flights (Response A), but a 32% increase in nighttime feeding was required to restore energy losses incurred in Response B. No increase in daily feeding rate was observed between days with different disturbance levels (P > 0.05). Authors concluded that man-induced disturbance had significant energetic consequences for fall-staging greater snow geese.
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