Natal dispersal and breeding site fidelity of red‐throated divers gavia stellata in shetland

Abstract

The natal dispersal and site fidelity in breeding Red‐throated Divers is described from retraps of ringed birds of known sex. Males bred very closely to their natal site, on average within 2.17 km, whilst females dispersed widely, on average 37.79 km. Oncea bird had bred on a loch it rarely changed site and then only over a short distance. © 1992 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.