Passage of arthropod-diagnostic fragments in Northern Bobwhite chicks.

Abstract

Identifying the arthropods present in the digestive tracts of human-imprinted gamebird chicks after foraging may provide a more biologically relevant assessment of arthropod availability in brood-rearing habitats. It may also provide information on food selection by chicks. An assumption of this methodology is that diagnostic fragments of arthropods (i.e., those body fragments used to identify taxa) are not passed out of the gizzard before chicks are euthanized. We investigated the passage of diagnostic fragments of six arthropod species within the digestive tract of 10 d-old Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) chicks. Although fragments of arthropods were found in the intestines of a few chicks, arthropod-diagnostic fragments were only found in the crop and gizzard. The results of this study suggest that diagnostic fragments of arthropods ingested by human-imprinted chicks are not excreted within a 40-min foraging period.