Black-headed Gulls Chroicocephalus ridibundus capturing chironomids in flight: have flight costs been overestimated?

The diurnal and seasonal occurrence of flight foraging for midges (Chironomidae) by Black-headed Gulls Chroicocephalus ridibundus was studied at a shallow semi-eutrophic lake in South Sweden and their capture rates were recorded. The gulls captured 0.28 chiromids s(-1) (1,012 h(-1)). With a dry mass...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Ornithology
Main Author: Källander, Hans
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Springer 2014
Subjects:
Biological Sciences
Black-headed Gull
Chironomids
Energy intake
Flight costs
Chroicocephalus ridibundus
Online Access:https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4608984
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-014-1055-7
Description
Summary:The diurnal and seasonal occurrence of flight foraging for midges (Chironomidae) by Black-headed Gulls Chroicocephalus ridibundus was studied at a shallow semi-eutrophic lake in South Sweden and their capture rates were recorded. The gulls captured 0.28 chiromids s(-1) (1,012 h(-1)). With a dry mass of 2.08 mg ind(-1) and an energy content of 22.7 kJ g(-1), they achieved an energy intake of c.47 kJ h(-1). It seems that estimates of flight costs may have been over-estimated, and it is concluded that aerial feeding on chironomids by Black-headed Gulls results in a positive energy balance.

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