Super-Normal Clutches and Female-Female Pairs in Gulls and Terns Breeding in Poland
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Super-normal Clutches and Female-female Pairs in Gulls and Terns Breeding in Poland JACEK BETLEJA1, PIOTR SKÓRKA2 AND MONIKA ZIELINSKA´ 3 1Upper Silesian Museum, Department of Natural History, Plac Jana III Sobieskiego 2, 41-902 Bytom, Poland Internet: [email protected] 2Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Mickiewicza 33, 31-120 Kraków, Poland 3Ornithological Station, Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Nadwislanska´ ´ 108, 80-680 Gdansk,´ Poland Abstract.—Super-normal clutches (five eggs or more) in the Caspian Gull (Larus cachinnans), Mediterranean Gull (Larus melanocephalus) and Whiskered Tern (Chlidonias hybrida) are described. These species have regularly bred in Poland since the beginning of the 1990s. The occurrence of super-normal clutches was 1.8%, 4.1% and 0.3% in the Caspian Gull, Mediterranean Gull and Whiskered Tern, respectively. The first descriptions of a female- female pair in the above species as well as in the Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis) and an unusual mixed female- female pair of two gull species (Yellow-legged Gull and Caspian Gull), never mentioned in the literature before, are also presented. The first fully documented case of a multi-female association of the Mediterranean Gull was also identified. The frequency of the SNCs in this study was higher than in other colonies located in different parts of the geographical range of the species. Received 06 January 2007, Accepted 25 June 2007. Key words.—clutch size, super-normal clutches, female-female pairs, multi-female association, mixed female- female pair. Waterbirds 30(4): 624-629, 2007 Super-normal clutches (hereafter SNCs) Nisbet and Hatch 1999). Despite this, fe- are defined as clutches exceeding the modal male-female pairs may be formed as the last clutch size by more than 50% (Conover resort in a strategy that enhances the fitness 1984a). In the case of birds laying usually or experience of females that cannot find a three eggs, like most gulls and some tern spe- male mate (Nisbet and Hatch 1999). cies the SNCs contain five or more eggs There are several hypotheses explaining (Cramp 1985). In most instances SNCs result proximate factors of male shortage in some from female-female pairing or multi-female populations. First, parents may invest more associations. Nevertheless, sometimes in females during reproduction and males clutches with four or even a smaller number may have lower survival rates than females of eggs can be attended by two females (Coulson and Wooler 1976; Griffiths 1992; (Conover 1984a, b; Conover and Aylor Szczys et al. 2001). Second, they may also be 1985), for example in the Herring Gull more susceptible to DDT contamination (Larus argentatus) female-female pairs have (Gilman et al. 1977; Shugart 1980; Fry and been noted at nests containing one, two or Toone 1981), which has been recorded for at three eggs (Shugart et al. 1988). least some species (Conover 1983, 1984a; Fry Usually, about 60-70% of all eggs in fe- et al. 1987). Finally, in gulls, sexes may differ male-female clutches are fertilized (Lorek in their tendency to migrate (Chabrzyk and and Tryjanowski 1993). Consequently, Coulson 1976) and therefore, in new grow- breeding success of female-female pairs is ing colonies, there may be an excess of fe- lower than that of heterosexual pairs. A low- males (Kadlec and Drury 1968). er breeding success is also a result of the lack In this paper we present evidence for the of courtship feeding and failures of parental presence of SNCs (as well as nests containing care as compared with heterosexual pairs four eggs) and multi-female associations in (Kovacs and Ryder 1983; Lagrenade and the colonies of Caspian Gull (Larus cachin- Mousseau 1983). Also, the quality of birds nans), Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahelis) forming female-female pairs may be lower and Whiskered Tern (Chlidonias hybrida) in than that of heterosexual pairs (Mills 1989; southern Poland, as well as data on the Med- 624 SUPER-NORMAL CLUTCHES IN GULLS AND TERNS 625 iterranean Gull (Larus melanocephalus) from longer-winged and heavier than females (Snow and Per- all of Poland. We also compare the frequen- rins 1998). Birds captured on Przykona reservoir in 2006 were sexed on the basis of PCR method (Poly- cy of SNCs in our study with published data merase Chain Reaction; Griffiths et al. 1998). from other colonies located in different geo- graphical regions. Whiskered Tern Monospecific colonies of the Whiskered Tern were METHODS located at the Goczalkowice Reservoir (49°55’N, 18°50’E, 255 masl, 3200 ha) and on the fishponds in the Upper Vistula River Valley near the town of Zator in the Caspian and Yellow-legged Gull years 1993-2001. Nests of Whiskered Terns were plat- Data relating to the Caspian Gull and Yellow-legged forms built from plants and floated on the water surface Gull were collected at the two largest inland breeding among water vegetation. Total size of the colonies colonies of the first species in southern Poland located ranged from eleven to 94 nests with the total population in Tarnów and Jankowice. The colony in Tarnów was lo- size reaching 207 pairs in 1995. Nests were visited five to cated on “Czajki” sedimentation basins of Nitrogen eight times during the incubation period. Terns on Works (50°00’N, 20°57’E, 195 m asl, 20.7 ha). Four gull nests containing SNCs were not trapped. species were breeding there: Caspian Gull (the popula- tion has grown from one pair in 1992 to 177 in 2001), Evidence for Female-female Pairing and Other Multi- Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus), Common Gull female Associations (Larus canus) and Mediterranean Gull (Skórka et al. 2005, 2006). The second colony was located on Jankow- Captures of birds were attempted on nests with ice gravel-pit (50°02’N, 19°27’E, 215 masl, 41.5 ha) in SNCs. SNCs were classified as belonging to female-fe- the Upper Vistula River Valley. The colony of Caspian male pair when two females were captured at the nest, Gulls was located on one island and the number of and no male was captured or observed in the nest vicin- breeding pairs has grown from ten pairs in 1998 (Skór- ity. Observations were also conducted from the hide (13 ka and Wójcik 2000) to about 100 in 2002-2004. Black- h in total) and videotaping was used to identify birds at- headed Gulls and Black-crowned Night Herons (Nyctic- tending SNCs. Additional, helpful clues to define SNCs orax nycticorax) were also breeding on this island. Usual- were different background color of various eggs in the ly, only few pairs of Yellow-legged Gulls were present in SNC and completion of eggs in very short time (e.g., two both colonies and they probably consisted of up to 5% eggs in one day). Multi-female association refer to a sit- of all breeding pairs of large gulls. uation when two females and a male were captured at Gull colonies were visited several times during the one nest. breeding season for breeding biology studies and for chick ringing. Nests were visited at one-day intervals in 2000 and once or two times per week in other years. All nests were tagged. Caspian Gulls and Yellow-legged RESULTS Gulls were trapped at nests during 1999-2004 using nooses prepared from a fishing line. Trapped gulls were weighed and standard measurements, enabling sex SNCs and Female-female Pairing in Caspian identification, were taken (Faber et al. 2001). Captured Gull gulls were sexed using the functions described by Bosch (1996). Males of these species are larger than females In the Caspian Gull colonies the percent- (Faber et al. 2001) age of SNCs reached 1.8% (N = 683 nests; Ta- Mediterranean Gull ble 1). In the case of six SNCs with known history, in only one case did one egg hatch. Data on the clutch size of Mediterranean Gulls came from several gull colonies from Poland, and were gath- Female-female pairs were noted at two nests ered in the years 1996-2006. Usually, in Poland, Mediterra- (one with five and one with four eggs) in nean Gull nests solitary or in small numbers in large 2004. At both nests, only two females were colonies of Black-headed Gull (Zielinska et al. 2007). Nests of Mediterranean Gulls were visited several times during captured during our efforts and no male was incubation. Eggs were placed in a container of water to de- observed at the nests. termine incubation stage (Hays and LeCroy 1971). Proof that heterosexual pairs could at- Nests with SNCs were found in four places only: Jan- kowice (described above), Skoki gravel-pit near the city tend SNCs, was gained. At two nests (one of Wloclawek (52°37’N, 19°24’E, 65 masl, 170 ha), an is- with seven and one with five eggs) the land on the Vistula River near the town of Kazimierz broods were probably parasitized by other fe- Dolny (51°16’N, 21°52’E, 124 masl) and Przykona reser- voir (former mining area (52°00’N, 18°39’E). The ma- males as heterosexual pairs were trapped at jority of Mediterranean Gulls were captured with walk- these nests. A five-hour videotaping and ob- in traps put on nests with eggs or little chicks. Few birds servation from the hide at one of these nests were caught by application of nooses made of a fishing line. Gulls were sexed through a comparison of wing also failed to indicate that more than one length and body mass. Males of this species are slightly known female attended the nests. 626 WATERBIRDS Table 1.