Sea birds play a major role in marine food webs, and it is important to det
ermine when and how much they feed at sea. A major advance has been made by
using the drop in stomach temperature after ingestion of ectothermic prey.
This method is less sensitive when birds eat small prey or when the stomac
h is full. Moreover, in diving birds, independently of food ingestion, ther
e are fluctuations in the lower abdominal temperature during the dives. Usi
ng oesophageal temperature, we present here a new method for detecting the
timing of prey ingestion in free-ranging sea birds, and, to our knowledge,
report the first data obtained on king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus).
In birds ashore, which were hand-fed 2-15 g pieces of fish, all meal ingest
ions were detected with a sensor in the upper oesophagus. Detection was poo
rer with sensors at increasing distances from the beak. At sea, slow temper
ature drops in the upper oesophagus and stomach characterized a diving effe
ct per se. For the upper oesophagus only, abrupt temperature variations wer
e superimposed, therefore indicating prey ingestions. We determined the dep
ths at which these occurred. Combining the changes in oesophageal temperatu
res of marine predators with their diving pattern opens new perspectives fo
r understanding their foraging strategy, and, after validation with concurr
ent applications of classical techniques of prey survey, for assessing the
distribution of their prey.