The effect of human disturbance and flock composition on the flight distances of waterfowl species

Abstract

Flocking bird species tolerate an approaching human up to a certain distance. We measured this distance, i.e., flight distance, to an approaching small boat for 11 waterfowl species. The flight distances correlated positively with flock size and species diversity (Shannon index H') in species that showed relatively short flight distances when they were in a single-species flock. However, we did not observe such a correlation for single-species flocks that showed relatively long flight distances. Only pochards (Aythya ferina), a species with large individual variation in flight distances, showed a positive correlation between flight distance and flock size in both single- and multispecies flocks. Flight distance seemed to be affected by usage of the water area: flight distances tended to be longer for waterfowl species that use a water area for foraging than for those that use it primarily for resting. Thus, the behavior of actively foraging species may be more affected by human disturbances than that of resting species.