Parental care and foraging strategies in relation to brood sizes and age of chicks in Black Terns, (Childonias niger).

Abstract

Optimally foraging parents with large brood sizes should make more nest visits than small brood size parents. Nest visits per hour and duration of visits were measured in Black Terns in a small colony in Lake Michigan. No significant difference was found between number of length of visits and nest size or age of chicks (p>.05 for all values). A possible alternate hypothesis is increased nutritional value of food in larger brood sizes. Another reason for lack of significance was the small sample size, due to to damaging summer storms.