Usurpation and Brooding of Least Tern (Sternula antillarum) Chicks by Common Terns (Sterna hirundo)
Jeffery D. SullivanJonathan IronsAnna TreadwayAyla McDonoughAlyssa LeeAmy W O'DonnellCarl R. CallahanP.C. McGowanDiann J. Prosser
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Abstract:
While nest usurpation and subsequent incubation of eggs and even brooding of chicks from other species has been reported for Common Terns (Sterna hirundo), such behavior is considered rare. We report an observation of a Common Tern pair usurping the Least Tern (Sternula antillarum) nest and brooding the Least Tern chicks. While the Least Tern pair attempted to provide care for the chicks, the Common Terns displayed aggressive behavior and defended the nest. Though both species attempted to feed the chicks, no feeding events were observed due to harassment from the other species. Neither pair was observed nesting prior to or following this event, and all chicks are believed to have been lost to predation. We discuss the possible scenarios leading to the observed usurpation event, the possibility that usurpations are more common than previously believed, and the need for different monitoring methods to elucidate the causes of usurpations.Keywords:
Sterna
Tern
Hirundo
Paternal care
Nest-site selection and nest success for Red-breasted Mergansers (Mergus serrator) breeding on a barrier island complex (Tern Islands) with >10,000 Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) in eastern New Brunswick, Canada, were studied in 2005 and 2006. Concealment was the most important feature for nest placement as 153 of 156 nests were in dense stands of Marram Grass (Ammophila breviligulata), and overhead concealment, vegetation density and vegetation height were all greater at nests than at random locations. Apparent success for all nests was 57% and was similar between years. Few nests were depredated (N = 3), but abandonment was responsible for 95% of nest losses and was most common early in the season. Nest success was <45% for nests initiated before 25 May but >75% for nests initiated after 10 June. Nest abandonment was influenced by intraspecific nest parasitism and investigator activity. Red-breasted Mergansers selected nest sites adaptively on Tern Islands because: 1) nests were more concealed than random sites; 2) avian predation at nests in the Common Tern colony was lower than at nests on nearby islands without terns; 3) nests were not exposed to mammalian predators; and 4) nest success and nest densities were high.
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Parental care activities of male and female Common Terns Sterna hirundo were recorded over two breeding seasons. Males and females exhibited distinct parental roles throughout a breeding bout. Courtship feeding by males was extensive prior to and during egg‐laying, but declined with the onset of incubation. Females performed significantly more incubation behaviour than males although both sexes spent equal time attending at the nest site. During the chick stage, females spent significantly more time on the territory than did males. Chick feeding was largely the responsibility of the male; males fed chicks at a rate approximately three times higher than that of females. In addition, whereas females showed no trend in the size of fish delivered to chicks relative to chick age, the size of fish delivered by males increased with chick age. Courtship feeding activities and extensive chick feeding contributions by male Common Terns appear to outweigh parental contributions by females, contrary to predictions for a monogamous species.
Sterna
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Paternal care
Tern
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We studied parental-care allocation by males and females in three tern species. Female Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) and Little Terns (S. albifrons) performed more incubation and brooding than males, whereas in the Sandwich Tern (S. sandvicensis) the sexes shared these duties equally. In all three species, agonistic behaviors were performed equally by females and males. Prey types brought by males and females of each species were similar, but males tended to bring larger prey and had higher delivery rates than females. Information on parental-care allocation by female and male seabirds of various species, 5 gulls, 6 terns, and 1 skimmer, indicates that females perform most of the incubation and brooding in both gulls and terns, whereas males perform most territory attendance and agonistic behavior (gulls) and more prey provisioning (terns). These patterns are qualitatively consistent with the explanation that the differences between gulls and terns in sex-biased parental care are related to the fact that gulls exhibit sexual size dimorphism but terns do not. Contrary to theoretical predictions that in monogamous birds, females contribute more reproductive effort than males, in all the seabird species studied so far the total parental expenditure by males seems to equal or outweigh that by females.
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Paternal care
Tern
Hirundo
Sexual dimorphism
Agonistic behaviour
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Capsule The first confirmed record of breeding by a one-year-old Common Tern Sterna hirundo is revealed by ringing evidence, despite second-summer plumage characteristics.
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1993年と1994年に，利根川中流域でコアジサシの繁殖状況を調査した結果，繁殖期に継続的に観察された個体は1993年，1994年ともに約100羽であった。コロニーの規模は成鳥10数羽のものから最大でも100羽とすべて小規模なものであった。営巣が確認された場所は1例を除いてすべて中州であった。環境要因，人為的要因による影響を受け易く，コロニーが小規模であったため繁殖効率が低いものと推定された。標識調査では1993年，1994年にそれぞれ32羽，18羽の雛に足輪とカラーリングを装着した。また1993年には佐波郡玉村町五料利根川のコアジサシのコロニー内において，国内初のアジサシの造巣と抱卵行動が記録された。
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1993年の5月から7月にかけて富山県黒部市黒部川河口中州のコアジサシのコロニーにおいてアジサシの日本初記録である繁殖を観察した。観察結果から抱卵を開始したのは5月18日，孵化したのは6月10日と考えられた。7月10日には活発に飛び回る幼鳥が観察され、7月15日から17日の間に飛去した。この場所でアジサシが繁殖したのは、外敵の接近しにくい地形と外敵の侵入をコアジサシが発見してくれる事による安全の確保や、コアジサシの餌を横取りする事による餌の確保が容易であったためと考えられる。
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