A recent study of waterbird food habits, conducted along the western approach 

 to the Bay of Fundy, found that cormorants fed primarily on sculpin and 

 herring, krill, refuse, plants, urchins, and mussels; eiders fed mostly on 

 blue mussels and urchins; and purple sandpipers fed on smooth periwinkle, 

 amphipods, pearly top shell, and blue mussels (Marine Research Associates 

 1979). A second study in the Head Harbor Passage area, off Eastport (region 

 6), found that herring gulls and great black-backed gulls took herring up to 

 25 cm (9.8 in.) long and ate large numbers of euphausiid shrimp (Gaskin et al. 

 1979) . In the summer months herring gulls generally are associated with 

 herring weirs and stop seines, where they exist in coastal Maine (primarily 

 region 6). In the Head Harbor Passage study, it was found that Bonaparte's 

 gulls fed mostly on euphausiids, terns on smaller herring and euphausiids, and 

 northern phalaropes probably on copepods and smaller size classes of 

 euphausiids. Bald eagles are an important predator in coastal Maine where 

 they feed on fish, waterfowl, and seabirds. 



In summary, the foods important to waterbirds include herring, sculpin, 

 pollock, sand lance, euphausiids, shrimp, copepods, amphipods, mussels, 

 urchins, and other invertebrates. Most of the waterbird food items or types 

 listed in "Consumers," page 5-4l in chapter 5, are applicable to the marine 

 system. The discussion on the role of waterbirds in energy flow, nutrient 

 cycling, and community structure in the estuarine system also is applicable to 

 the marine system. 



Terrestrial islands in the marine system are used for nesting (e.g., bald 

 eagles, ospreys, wading birds, gulls, eiders, and double-crested cormorants), 

 rearing young (e.g., bald eagles, ospreys, eiders, black duck, common and 

 roseate terns, laughing gulls, and wading birds), moulting (e.g., eiders and 

 Bonaparte's gulls), roosting (most groups), wintering (e.g., bald eagles, 

 black ducks, mallards, Canada geese, seaducks , purple sandpipers, gulls, 

 loons, grebes, kittiwakes, and great cormorants), and as migratory stopover 

 areas (e.g., shorebirds, brant, geese, dabbling ducks, peregrine falcon, bald 

 eagles, ospreys, diving ducks, Bonaparte's gulls, and ring-billed gulls). 



Marine mammals . This community is essentially opportunistic in feeding 

 but major feeding methods may be clearly defined. Pinnipeds and cetaceans of 

 the Gulf of Maine may be functionally classified according to their major 

 feeding methods as planktonic, nektonic, or demersal/semidemersal feeders 

 (figure 4-12). A certain degree of overlap exists, indicating flexibility and 

 opportunism. 



Plankton feeders utilize surface plankton and planktonic crustaceans (e.g., 

 krill and copepods) as major food resources. These plankton feeders are 

 represented exclusively by the baleen whales. Familiar species include the 

 finback, rainke , humpback, and right whales. 



Nektonic feeders exploit the free-swimming species of the marine water column, 

 such as gregarious fishes, euphausiids, squid, and some benthic fishes. This 

 feeding group includes the toothed whales, the baleen whales, and the seals. 

 All of these classes are nektonic feeders to a degree. For the toothed 

 whales and seals, nektonic feeding is a major feeding method, while for the 

 baleen whales it is a supplementary one. Representative nektonic feeders 

 include the sperm whale, the pilot whale, the harbor porpoise, the beaked 



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10-80 



