FORAGING BEHAVIOR IN A COLONY OF COMMON TERNS STERNA-HIRUNDO AND THE INFORMATION-CENTER HYPOTHESIS

Common terns departed from their breeding colony together and in the s ame directions. However the low success foragers did not follow the mo re efficient feeders. This finding contrasts with the hypothesis that colonies may act as information centres in the common tern. We suggest that leaving colonies contemporaneously and in the same direction as a flock may be results of different ecological pressures such as the p redation; moreover clumped departures and arrivals may be related.