Puffin, Kittiwake Reproductive Failure In UK Sanctuaries Due To Starvation, Climate Shift

[hatrack]

News from St Kilda, a dual world heritage site off the west coast of Scotland, shows that seabirds on Europe’s largest colony are suffering from food shortages. Puffins have had a particularly bad year with barely 40 chicks raised for every 100 eggs laid. This is only half of what is normally expected. The chicks are also severely malnourished with a very low average weight.

Sarah Money, the NTS seabird ranger on the islands, said: “The chicks are just dying of starvation, with hundreds of emaciated bodies lying around outside the burrows. Since July, the parents have been bringing back mainly pipefish, which the chicks can’t swallow. Many of the burrows contain piles of uneaten, rotting pipefish.”

The normal food of puffins and many other seabirds are sandeels and young herring or sprats, which are nutritious and rich in oil. Pipefish, in contrast, are long and bony and are very difficult for the chicks to swallow. Even if they do manage to stomach them they provide only poor nutrition. Before 2001, snake pipefish were rarely seen in Scottish waters but have been becoming increasingly common in recent years. It is feared that this is another symptom of climate change as they are a southern species that have been extending their range northwards.

In contrast, guillemots, which had a poor year in Shetland, have done relatively well on St Kilda, with reasonable chick survival. They breed significantly earlier than puffins and the parents were able to find enough other food for their chicks. By the time that the pipefish became abundant in July their chicks were close to fledging.

EDIT

http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/152039/1/

[phantom power]

1. Anybody else getting the sinking feeling that the wildlife preservation movement is doomed?

You can't establish a "preserve" against climate change.