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Gulls and Terns 429

Diet

Small tern chicks (Least, Common, or Forster’s) can be fed silversides (Menidia) or lance fish
(Ammodytes spp.) (Figure 26.3). Many retail and online pet food suppliers carry these items
frozen. Larger terns and Western Gull chicks can be fed small whitebait, lake smelt, or other
whole fish. Gull chicks less than a week old can also be fed shrimp. Whole food items are better
than chopped fish, because fish oils may sometimes remain on the beak, causing contamina-
tion of body plumage and the vent area when birds preen. Fish or shrimp or other food items
should be offered fresh at each feeding. Older gulls can be offered dry cat food and cooked eggs
as an introduction to the later miscellaneous diet that many gulls subsist on from humans.
Least Terns and other small tern species will also eat large or giant mealworms when they are
old enough for outdoor housing. For larger terns and gulls, whole lake smelt or night smelt
(Canadian origin) are often available at local Asian markets fresh or frozen. Older gull chicks
may enjoy picking apart fish carcasses that are too large to eat whole, and this provides great
enrichment and foraging practice.

­ Feeding­Procedures

Gull and tern chicks can be fed within a few hours of hatching. Parent birds of these species
feed chicks on the day of hatch, although the yolk sac can nourish the bird for the first
48 hours if necessary. Chicks sit quietly until they become hungry and then begin soliciting
for food by vocalizing. Food items can be given to the bird using a pair of forceps or by hand.
Juvenile gulls and terns advance toward the handler and grasp offered fish after calling and
gaping. Do not allow beaks to become sticky or dirty with food. Clean the beak and nares if
this should become necessary. Food should be freshly thawed the day of feeding and kept
refrigerated until an hour or two before feeding. These species are susceptible to imprinting
and habituation. See Chapter 15 for more information on avoiding these problems when rais -
ing susceptible chicks.

Figure­26.3­ Two Least Tern fledglings in outdoor caging with a dish of fish. Source: photo courtesy of Mary
F. Platter Rieger.