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Foraging decisions of Sandwich Terns in the presence of kleptoparasitising gulls
Stienen, E.W.M.; Brenninkmeijer, A. (2002). Foraging decisions of Sandwich Terns in the presence of kleptoparasitising gulls. The Auk 119(2): 473-486. https://dx.doi.org/10.1642/0004-8038(2002)119[0473:FDOSTI]2.0.CO;2
In: The Auk: A quarterly journal of ornithology. The American Ornithologists' Union: Washington, D.C.. ISSN 0004-8038; e-ISSN 1938-4254, more
Related to:
Stienen, E.W.M.; Brenninkmeijer, A. (2005). Foraging decisions of Sandwich Terns in the presence of kleptoparasitising gulls, in: Stienen, E.W.M. Living with gulls: trading off food and predation in the Sandwich Tern Sterna sandvicensis. Alterra Scientific Contributions, 15: pp. 61-79, more
Peer reviewed article  

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Keywords
    Aquatic organisms > Marine organisms > Aquatic birds > Marine birds
    Behaviour > Feeding behaviour > Foraging behaviour
    Gulls
    Interspecific relationships > Competition
    Interspecific relationships > Predation > Prey selection
    Larus ridibundus Linnaeus, 1766 [WoRMS]; Sterna sandvicensis Latham, 1787 [WoRMS]
    Marine/Coastal; Brackish water

Authors  Top | Datasets 
  • Stienen, E.W.M., more
  • Brenninkmeijer, A., more

Abstract
    We studied prey selection of Sandwich Terns (Sterna sandvicensis) in the presence of kleptoparasitising Black-headed Gulls (Larus ridibundus) on Griend, Dutch Wadden Sea, from 1992 to 1998. Most often, gulls robbed larger sandeels rather than herring from terns. Provided that one parent attends the chick, energy intake would be too low for the chicks' survival if exclusively fed on sandeel. By provisioning an increasing proportion of herring, parent terns could theoretically overcome a potential food shortage when the chicks grow older. However, the proportion of herring did not increase with age of chicks in most years. Instead, parents increased their foraging effort with the growth of their offspring. In years with high proportions of food loss, parents left their chicks unattended at the nest more often. In that way, parents were largely able to counterbalance food shortage of offspring. In 1992 and 1996, when diet composition was unfavorable and food losses to gulls were high, parents left their chicks unattended at the nest for 680% of the daylight period. It is argued that the present working level of parents might be higher than in the 1960s.

Datasets (2)
  • Feeding ecology of Terns chicks in the Belgian Part of the North sea, more
  • Feeding ecology of Terns in the Belgian Part of the North sea, more

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