TY - JOUR
TI - Sex-Based Mortality of Common Tern in Farm Collisions
AU - Stienen, E
AU - Courtens, W
AU - Everaert, J
AU - Van de walle, M
T2 - The Condor
AB - We studied sex differences in collision mortality in adult Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) at a wind farm in the direct vicinity of a breeding site in Zeebrugge, Belgium in 2005-2007. In total, 64 fatalities were collected and sexed, of which 64% were males. Uneven sex ratio among these birds was most pronounced during the period of incubation and early chick feeding (15 May-15 June), when 78% of the 28 mortalities were male. During prelaying and feeding of young, the sex ratio of mortalities did not differ from equality. We argue that sex-biased collision mortality in Common Terns does not result from morphological differences between the sexes, but rather reflects differences in foraging frequency between males and females during egg-laying and incubation.
DA - 2008/01//
PY - 2008
VL - 110
IS - 1
SP - 154
EP - 157
UR - http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.1525/cond.2008.110.1.154
DO - 10.1525/cond.2008.110.1.154
LA - English
KW - Wind Energy
KW - Land-Based Wind
KW - Collision
KW - Seabirds
KW - Birds
ER -