A Telemetry-Based Study of Great Egret (Ardea alba) Nest-Attendance Patterns, Food-Provisioning Rates, and Foraging Activity in Kansas, USA

Abstract. The breeding season is a demanding period in an individual's annual cycle because it must balance energy gains with the competing demands of reproduction and self-maintenance and properly allocate time and energy to both. To better understand how this balance is reached, nest-attendance patterns, food-provisioning rates, and foraging patterns were studied in radio-tagged Great Egrets (Ardea alba) breeding in a mixed-species colony in Wichita, Kansas, from May–August 2010–2013. A total 900 bird-days for 16 Great Egrets (60 ± 32 days/bird) provided 777 records of feeding sites, yielding travel times, flight velocities, and flight distances. Prey-capture rates, capture efficiencies, prey sizes and aggressive interactions were recorded at rivers, ponds, and weirs. A data logger placed in the colony from 2011–2013 recorded 3,390 arrivals and departures by 14 Great Egrets, documenting nest-attendance patterns. Provisioning intervals (196 ± 18 min [SD]; Range = 30–2,044 min) differed among radio-tagged...