Menu

Volume 49, No. 2

Search by author or title:

A Common Tern Sterna hirundo capturing an airborne flying squid: A novel foraging technique?


Authors

ANGELICO JOSE C. TIONGSON

Citation

TIONGSON, A.J.C. 2021. A Common Tern Sterna hirundo capturing an airborne flying squid: A novel foraging technique?. Marine Ornithology 49: 253 - 255
http://doi.org/10.5038/2074-1235.49.2.1432

Received 13 April 2021, accepted 09 June 2021

Date Published: 2021/10/15
Date Online: 2021/09/30
Key words: aerial feeding, Philippines, Ommastrephidae, seabirds, Sternidae

Abstract

Seabirds forage in the air-water interface and have adapted various feeding techniques to exploit resources at or beneath the surface. Here I present photographic evidence of a novel feeding technique by an Eastern Common Tern Sterna hirundo longipennis: the capture of an airborne flying squid. Terns are generally plunge-divers for fish or shrimp, but they are also known to feed extensively on insects and occasionally by kleptoparasitism. Aerial pursuit/capture may be more common among seabirds in areas where flying prey are abundant. This new observation highlights the opportunistic nature and flexibility of seabirds in obtaining prey, as well as the paucity of prior seabird observations in tropical Southeast Asia.

References


ASHMOLE, N.P. 1971. Seabird ecology and the marine environment. In: FARNER, D.S. & KING J.R. (Eds.) Avian Biology - Volume I, 1st Edition. London, UK: Academic Press.

AU, D.W.K. & PITMAN, R.L. 1986. Seabird interactions with dolphins and tuna in the eastern tropical Pacific. The Condor 88: 304-317. doi:10.2307/1368877

BALLANCE, L.T. & PITMAN, R.L. 1999. Foraging ecology of tropical seabirds. In: ADAMS, N.J. & SLOTOW, R.H. (Eds.) Proceedings of the 22nd International Ornithological Congress, Durban. Johannesburg, South Africa: BirdLife South Africa.

BECKER, P.H. & LUDWIGS, J.-D. 2004. Sterna hirundo Common Tern. BWP Update 6: 91-137.

BUGONI, L. & VOOREN, C.M. 2004. Feeding ecology of the Common Tern Sterna hirundo in a wintering area in southern Brazil. Ibis 146: 438-453. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2004.00277.x

BURGER, J. & GOCHFELD, M. 1983. Feeding behavior in Laughing Gulls: Compensatory site selection by young. The Condor 85: 467-473. doi:10.2307/1367989

DIAMOND, A.W. 1974. The Red-footed Booby on Aldabra Atoll, Indian Ocean. Ardea 62: 196-218.

HERTEL, F. & BALLANCE, L.T. 1999. Wing ecomorphology of seabirds from Johnston Atoll. The Condor 101: 549-556. doi:10.2307/1370184

HITCHCOCK, W.B. & FAVALORO, N.J. 1951. Victorian records of Sterna striata Gm. and Sterna hirundo longipennis Nordm. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 17: 207-214. doi:10.24199/j.mmv.1951.17.12

KENNEDY, R.S., GONZALES, P.C., DICKINSON, E.C., MIRANDA, H.C., JR. & FISHER, T.H. 2000. A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines. Oxford UK: Oxford University Press.

LEWALLEN, E.A., VAN WIJNEN, A.J., BONIN, C.A. & LOVEJOY, N.R. 2018. Flyingfish (Exocoetidae) species diversity and habitats in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Marine Biodiversity. 48: 1755-1765. doi:10.1007/s12526-017-0666-7

MAUCO, L. & FAVERO, M. 2004. Diet of the Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) during the nonbreeding season in Mar Chiquita Lagoon, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Ornitologia Neotropical 15: 121-131.

MONTEVECCHI, W.A. & MYERS, A. 1996. Dietary changes of seabirds indicate shifts in pelagic food webs. Sarsia 80: 313-322. doi:10.1080/00364827.1996.10413606

MONTEVECCHI, W.A. & MYERS, R.A. 1995. Prey harvests of seabirds reflect pelagic fish and squid abundance on multiple spatial and temporal scales. Marine Ecology Progress Series 117: 1-9.

MURAMATSU, K., YAMAMOTO, J., ABE, T. ET AL. 2016. A Red-footed Booby catching airborne squid. Journal of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology 47: 130-135. doi:10.3312/jyio.47.130

MURAMATSU, K., YAMAMOTO, J., ABE, T., SEKIGUCHI, K., HOSHI, N. & SAKURAI, Y. 2013. Oceanic squid do fly. Marine Biology 160: 1171-1175. doi:10.1007/s00227-013-2169-9

SABATER, E.R., AQUINO, M.T.R., DELA PAZ, M.E., EMATA, C.L., UTZURRUM, J.A. & DOLAR, M.L.L. 2011. At sea community composition of seabirds in the NW Bohol Sea. Poster presented at the 11th National Symposium in Marine Science. Tagaytay City, Philippines.

SAFINA, C. & BURGER, J. 1985. Common Tern foraging: Seasonal trends in prey fish densities and competition with bluefish. Ecology 66: 1457-1463. doi:10.2307/1938008

SHEALER, D.A. 2002. Foraging behavior and food of seabirds. In: SCHREIBER, E.A. & BURGER, J. (Eds.) Biology of Marine Birds. Boca Raton, USA: CRC Press.

SPEAR, L.B., AINLEY, D.G. & WALKER, W.A. 2007. Foraging dynamics of seabirds in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Studies in Avian Biology 35: 1-99.

WEIMERSKIRCH, H., LE CORRE, M., ROPERT-COUDERT, Y., KATO, A. & MARSAC, F. 2005. The three-dimensional flight of red-footed boobies: Adaptations to foraging in a tropical environment? Proceedings of the Royal Society B 272: 53-61. doi:10.1098/rspb.2004.2918

Search by author or title:

Browse previous volumes: