Prey Selection and Feeding Behavior of the Two-banded Plover in Patagonia, Argentina
2004; The Waterbird Society; Volume: 27; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1675/1524-4695(2004)027[0264
ISSN1938-5390
AutoresVerónica L. D’Amico, Luis O. Bala,
Tópico(s)Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
Resumo—The intertidal area of Fracasso beach at Peninsula Valdés, Argentina is used as a regular stop-over site by the Two-Banded Plover (Charadrius falklandicus), a neotropical Patagonian species. We analyzed the feeding patterns and diet choice of the Two-banded Plover at Fracasso beach based on fecal analyses and measurements of the intertidal invertebrate community. The intertidal area was divided in six zones related to the tide height. Two-banded Plovers are visual foragers that use stop-run-stop as strategy to capture their prey, and invested the bulk of their foraging time in the medium to high shore zones. The most frequent prey found in the droppings was the bivalve mollusk Darina solenoides, the only clam eaten, but when frequency was converted to biomass, the contribution to the diet of the polychaete Glycera americana, one of the three polychaete species eaten, was 15 times higher than the contribution of bivalve mollusk Darina solenoides. Two-banded Plovers selected very small clams compared with the large polychaetes consumed.
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