POSTFLEDGING SURVIVAL IN COMMON TERNS IN RELATION TO BROOD ORDER, HATCHING DATE AND PARENTAL AGE

In 1983, 353 Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) chicks from known-aged paren ts were banded at Bird Island, Massachusetts, USA. Between 1986 and 19 95, 18 of these birds were found breeding at Bird Island and three at other sites. There were no significant differences in brood order, hat ching date, or parental age between the birds that were encountered br eeding and the birds that were not re-encountered. Although the small number of birds retrapped limited the power of the study to detect dif ferences, these data show no discernible influence of parental age or other natal characteristics on survival between fledging and recruitme nt into the breeding population.