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Chick feeding in the diving petrels Pelecanoides georgicus and P. urinatrix exsul
Roby, D.D. (1989). Chick feeding in the diving petrels Pelecanoides georgicus and P. urinatrix exsul. Antarctic Science 1(4): 337-342. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0954102089000507
In: Antarctic Science. Cambridge University Press: Oxford. ISSN 0954-1020; e-ISSN 1365-2079, more
Peer reviewed article  

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Keywords
    Aquatic organisms > Marine organisms > Aquatic birds > Marine birds
    Feeding
    Food conversion
    Stomach content
    Pelecanoides georgicus Murphy & Harper, 1916 [WoRMS]; Pelecanoides urinatrix exsul
    Marine/Coastal

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  • Roby, D.D.

Abstract
    Chick feeding in common diving petrels (Pelecanoides urinatrix exsul) and South Georgia diving petrels (P. georgicus) was studied on Bird Island, South Georgia. Complete chick meals removed from the proventriculus of adults averaged 25.5 g (n = 32) for common diving petrels (17.6% of adult mass) and 23.3 g (n = 24) for South Georgia diving petrels (20.2% of adult mass); neither contained stomach oils. The sum of the positive mass increments during overnight weighings (SUM) averaged 48.6 g for common diving petrel chicks (n = 78 chick nights) and 41.6 g for South Georgia diving petrel chicks (n = 78 chick nights). Average adult feeding frequencies were 0.95 meals day-1 and 0.92 meals day-1, respectively. Relative meal size in diving petrels was similar to that of other procellariiforms, but SUM averaged about twice that of other petrels. The lower conversion efficiency of meals to body mass in diving petrel chicks reflects the absence of stomach oils in the diet. Higher chick feeding frequency and lower variance in SUM are consistent with the hypothesis that diving petrels forage nearshore on reliable food supply compared with other procellariiforms.

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