Age-Dependent Choice of Redshank (Tringa totanus) Feeding Location: Profitability or Risk?

Abstract

1. The effect of a varying risk of predation by sparrowhawks (Accipiter nisus L.) on choice of overwinter feeding site was studied for redshank (Tringa totanus L.), on a small Scottish estuary at low tide. 2. Adult and juvenile redshank segregated into two areas, a mussel bed and a salt-marsh area, respectively. Juveniles were excluded from the mussel beds by the adults, but there were no aggressive interactions on the salt-marsh. Adults occasionally fed on the salt-marsh, particularly late in the winter. 3. A redshank on the salt-marsh was 4.8 times more likely to be killed on the salt-marsh than on the mussel beds. Redshank on the salt-marsh fed closer to cover, than those on the mussel beds: sparrowhawk attack success rate declined as redshank fed further from cover