First description of post-fledging migration of Maltese Cory's Shearwaters Calonectris diomedea diomedea

Abstract

Three juvenile Cory’s Shearwaters Calonectris diomedea diomedea were fitted with back-mounted satellite tags and tracked during post-fledging migration. The birds spent several weeks in the central Mediterranean before migrating westwards. Two tags stopped transmitting after 21 and 35 days; the third bird passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and along the West African coast until transmitting ceased after day 43, by which time it was 114.6 km off the coast and 4,390 km from Malta. Cory’s Shearwaters from other Mediterranean islands winter further south in equatorial waters, in the eastern South Atlantic or in the northeast tropical Atlantic associated with the Canary current, and further research is needed to define the wintering areas of Maltese Cory’s Shearwaters.