Alert and flight initiation distances of Chilean Flamingo and American Oystercatcher to anthropogenic stimuli in a stopover site

ABSTRACT

Tourism provides benefits, such as economic incentives, increasing support for conservation. However, it can also evoke responses in wildlife and be analogous to predation risk. As tourism increases, adequate planning and management is necessary. Chilean Flamingos (Phoenicopterus chilensis) and American Oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus) were exposed to four stimuli (single walker, group of walkers, car, and kayak) in a stopover site to determine their response and estimate minimal approach distances, controlling the effect of potentially influential factors. Flight initiation distance and the distance at which birds change its posture or orientation to monitor an approaching threat (alert distance) were identified as response distances. Kayaks and cars allowed closer approaches than single walkers and groups of walkers for both species. The Chilean Flamingo exhibited responses to approaching stimuli at longer distances compared with oystercatchers. Potential factors (starting distance, month, season, initial behavior, and wind speed) including large variations among individuals, and influenced bird responses. To reduce the effects of tourists on bird behavior in an important stopover site, the minimal approach distance can be set at 80 m for the American Oystercatcher on the beach and 240 m for the Chilean Flamingo when walking and 207 m when kayaking in the estuary.

KEYWORDS:

• Tourism
• visitor management
• flight initiation distance
• alert distance
• minimum approach distance

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support granted by the Brazil Scholarship CAPES-Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Fundação O Boticário-McArthur Foundation (project no. 1106_20172), in association with Instituto Curicaca for supporting part of the fieldwork, the Lagoa do Peixe National Park for logistic support, Fundação Zoobotânica do RS for the equipment received, and everyone who participated as field assistants, specially especially the support executed by Guilherme R.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

All authors contributed to the conception and design of the manuscript. All authors reviewed previous versions of the manuscript, read and approved the final manuscript.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in [figshare] at [https://figshare.com/s/f80299bb92d2e03c74c3].

Ethics approval

The study was conducted with the approval of the Ministry of Environment (SISBIO authorization: 35297-8). All applicable institutional and/or national and international guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Brazil Scholarship CAPES-Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior [grant number 88882.351747/2019-00], Fundação O Boticário-McArthur Foundation for supporting part of the fieldwork [grant number 1106_20172), the Lagoa do Peixe National Park for logistic support, and Fundação Zoobotânica do RS for the equipment received.