Ardea
Official journal of the Netherlands Ornithologists' Union

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Ens B.J. & Alting D. (1996) Prey selection of a captive Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus. ARDEA 84 (A): 215-219
We studied prey choice of a captive Oystercatcher that hammered Mussels from the ventral side. The results replicate previous findings that ventral hammerers select Mussels of intermediate size, select against thick-shelled Mussels, abandon an increasing proportion of Mussels with increasing size and do not pick up Mussels covered with barnacles. Abandoned Mussels had thicker shells than Mussels that were successfully opened, but part of the selection against thick shells seemed to occur before the Mussels were picked up. Barnacles could not serve as cue for this. In fact, it remains unclear why ventrally hammering Oystercatchers ignore Mussels covered with barnacles.


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