Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) Science Article 7
abstract
We measured the energy budgets of chicks of the Common Tern (Sterna hitundo)on Great Gull Island, New York and of the Sooty Tern (S. fuscata) on the Dry Tortugas, Florida. The respiratory energy requirement was determined by measuring oxygen consumption in a closed system. We calculated the growth energy requirement from the lipid and protein contents of a series of chicks spanning the range between hatching and fledging. Young Common Terns grow about twice as rapidly as young Sooty Terns. In most respects, their development follows a similar course, but energy budgets calculated for the two species differed in several ways.
OBERT E. RICKLEFS AND SUSAN C. WHITE, The Auk 98: 361-378