We studied the movements of little egrets Egretta garzetta from breeding colonies in northern Spanish Atlantic estuaries using sighting data of colour-ringed birds. Data on 304 resightings of 95 out of 457 little egrets ringed as chicks in two colonies on the southern Bay of Biscay were analysed. Most egrets (68.9%) were observed less than 50 km from their natal colonies and thus exhibited low dispersal, supporting the view that these birds belong to a resident population breeding along the coasts of the Bay of Biscay. Nearly all resightings (95.5%) occurred in estuaries across an east-west axis corresponding to the Atlantic coast of northern Spain and had a west-biased dispersal direction. We suggest that the recently formed northern Atlantic Spanish population is a consequence of a westward colonisation pattern originating in the French Atlantic colonies.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	estuaries, herons, Iberian Peninsula, natal dispersal, waterbirds
Research Division:	Biological Sciences
Research Group:	Ecology
Research Field:	Community Ecology
Objective Division:	Environment
Objective Group:	Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity
Objective Field:	Coastal and Estuarine Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity
UTAS Author:	Arce, F (Mr Fernando Arce Gonzalez)
ID Code:	114351
Year Published:	2016
Web of Science® Times Cited:	1
Deposited By:	Ecology and Biodiversity
Deposited On:	2017-02-14
Last Modified:	2018-04-19
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