Studies in Avian Biology

We are very grateful to the NOAA offi cers and crews of the ships Oceanographer, Discoverer, and Malcolm Baldrige, and scientists of NOAA’s Pacifi c and Atlantic Marine Environmental Laboratories. These persons went out-of-their-way to deploy our boat for the purpose of collecting seabirds while they were involved in buoy operations and CTDs. Without their cooperation, particularly that of the captains, fi eld operations offi cers, and bosons (William Saunders and Fred Alama), this study would not have been possible. We also thank Robert L. Pitman (RLP) who participated on several cruises, helped to collect seabirds during the fi rst three years of the study, and provided some data on fi sh and otolith sizes as well as the cover photos. We are grateful to the many volunteers who also helped—Ian Gaffney, Keith Hansen, Suzanne Healy, Phil Henderson, Steve Howell, Nina Karnovsky, Libby Logerwell, Carla Owston, Peter Pyle, Mark Rauzon, Craig Strong, Sophie Webb, and Terry Wahl. Bert Williams identifi ed the fl ying fi sh ectoparasites. The constructive comments of reviewers Lisa Ballance and Michael Imber were invaluable. Ocean surveys, collection of birds and identifi cation of prey were funded by National Science Foundation grants OCE-8515637 and OCE-8911125, and National Geographic Society grants 3321-86 and 3321-89, as well as funds from the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History (Ralph Schreiber). Analysis and writing of this paper was funded in part by NOAA (Southwest Fisheries Science Center [SWFSC], made possible by Lisa Balance) and Ronald Duke at H. T. Harvey & Associates. Publication costs were contributed by H.T. Harvey & Associates and the family of Larry Spear.