Prey consumed by wading birds in mangrove swamps of the Caribbean coast of Colombia

ABSTRACT

The diet composition of wading birds was studied in mangrove swamps of the north western Caribbean coast of Colombia during the non-breeding season for Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea), Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) and Snowy Egret (Egretta thula), and during the breeding season for Agami Heron (Agamia agami), Cocoi Heron (Ardea cocoi), Boat-billed Heron (Cochlearius cochlearius) and Bare-throated Tiger-Heron (Tigrisoma mexicanum). One-hundred and thirty-two birds were captured, and 32 regurgitations and nine stomach samples were collected. Except for Little Blue Heron, these species ate mostly small fish. Representatives of Poecilidae, Gambusia sp. and Poecilia sp., were the most important prey taken by Snowy Egret and Tricolored Heron, with significant differences in the weight, and standard length of Gambusia sp. consumed by both birds, as well as in the weight of Poecilia sp. The other five wading bird species were poorly represented on our samples, but never the less contribute to first records of their diet. The known diet of all species is briefly reviewed.

KEYWORDS:

• Diet
• Egrets
• estuary
• fish
• herons
• Neotropic
• Sinú

Acknowledgements

We appreciate the support of INVEMAR and the fieldwork assistance of Robi Correa, Remberto De la Rosa, Yanira Cifuentes-Sarmiento, Diana Orozco, Camila Cifuentes-Sarmiento and Lorena Cabeza. Thanks to Fernando Castillo and Diana Eusse, Asociación Calidris and Copper River Migratory Birds Initiative for funding field work. Nicolás Urbina-Cardona and Felipe Estela for their provided comments on an early version of this manuscript. Thanks to Chip Weseloh and Clay Green for their suggested revisions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.