Avian and River Otter Predation in a Storm-Petrel Colony

Despite accessing the nest chamber, river otters often seemed to actively avoid eating storm-petrel eggs, instead opting to consume just chicks and adults.

“Despite accessing the nest chamber, river otters often seemed to actively avoid eating storm‐petrel eggs, instead opting to consume just chicks and adults (e.g., Quinlan 1983).”

River otter predation of nesting seabirds occurs on both coasts of North America, with some records indicating the predation of hundreds of nesting seabirds from a single colony.

“Regardless, this behavior occurs on both coasts of North America, with some records indicating the predation of hundreds of nesting seabirds from a single colony (e.g., Quinlan 1983; Hoeg et al. 2021).”

Of the 22 publications, 13 were secondary anecdotal mentions, six were field-note style publications, and three were primary field research on river otter predation of nesting seabirds.

“Thirteen of these were secondary anecdotal mentions (often just a single sentence) in seabird population studies, six were “field note” style publications, and in just three instances was river otter predation of nesting seabirds an intentional subject of primary field research (Verbeek and Morgan 1978; Quinlan 1983; Carter et al. 2012).”