Category: Charadriiformes

Fledgling sex ratio variation in colonies of Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica

Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) Science Article 1 abstract Fisher (1930) predicted that natural selectionshould favour equal parental investmentin male and female offspring, and that populationsex ratios at the end of the period ofparental care should be inversely related to thecost of producing individuals of each sex if fitnessreturns from investment in sons and daughtersare similar. […]

A vagrant Laughing Gull (Larus africilfa) from Pitcairn Island

Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) Science Article 3 abstract During mid-March 1992, I discovered the remains of a Laughing Gull (Lamatricilla) at Down Rope Beach, Pitcairn Island. It appeared to have beendead for approximately one month. The distance from Pitcairn Island tothe wintering grounds of this North American gull is over 5,000 km GRAHAM WRAGG, NOTORNIS […]

The spring moult of larus atricilla linn.

Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) Science Article 1 abstract The subject of the alleged color change in full-grown feathers in certain specific cases, would seem hardly worthy of renewed comment after the thorough papers of Allen and Chapman in the ‘Bulletin’ of the American Museum, Vol. VIII, 1896, pp. 1-44, and of others since then. But […]

Moult, mass and migration of Grey Plovers Pluvialis squatarola wintering in South Africa.

Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) Science Article 2 abstract Data on 355 Grey Plovers Pluvialis squatarola trapped in South Africa in 1971-1997 were used to describe seasonal body mass variation and moult in relation to their very long migrations. The estimated duration of adult primary moult, 131 days, was similar to that observed in India and […]

Origin and movements of Grey Plovers Pluvialis squatarolaringed in Germany

Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) Science Article 3 abstract The general migration routes of waders using the East Atlantic flyway are reasonably wellknown. However, detailed studies on the migration routes and the origin of Grey Ploversstaging along the German coasts are very limited. Klaus-Michael Exo & Svea Wahls, Wader Study Group Bull. 81: 42-45. 1996 Download […]

The regulation of primary molt speed in the grey plover,Pluvialis squatarola

Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) Science Article 1 abstract Grey plovers wintering at different latitudes differ in duration of molt. We investigated the role of simultaneous primaryshedding and different growth rates of individual primaries on regulation of molt speed. We also explored relationships betweenlength and mass of primaries and primary growth rates. Grey plovers adjusted molt […]

Growth and energetics of chicks of the sooty tern (sterna fuscata) and common tern (s. hirundo)

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) Science Article 7 abstract We measured the energy budgets of chicks of the Common Tern (Sterna hitundo)on Great Gull Island, New York and of the Sooty Tern (S. fuscata) on the Dry Tortugas, Florida. The respiratory energy requirement was determined by measuring oxygen consumption in a closed system. We calculated the […]

Some observations on the occurrence of three generations of primaries in Common Terns Sterna hirundo

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) Science Article 3 abstract In adult Common Terns Sterna hirundo, the post-nuptial primary moult begins either near the breeding grounds (Cramp 1985) or upon arrival at the wintering grounds (L Underhill pers comm). Moult starts with the innermost primary (p1, numbered descendantly) and all birds initiate moult by October (Cramp 1985, […]

Individual quality and recruitment in the common tern, Sternahirundo

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) Science Article 4 abstract We investigated the individual histories of more than 1 300 fledglings from an intensively studied colony of commonterns, Sterna hirundo. Based on six cohorts (1992-1998), which had recruited almost completely by 2002, we found that thebody mass of a fledgling was positively related to return and recruitment […]

Population dynamics, recruitment, individual quality and reproductive strategies in Common Terns Sterna hirundo marked with transponders

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) Science Article 6 abstract From 1992 to 1999, we used subcutaneously injected transponders, enabling remote and automatic annual identification with the aim of performing an integrated population study of a Common Tern Sterna hirundo colony. Within a few years, population parameters and their inter-year variation could be calculated with a high […]