Provisioning strategies and growth patterns of light-mantled sooty albatrosses Phoebetria palpebrata on Macquarie Island

Provisioning regimes and growth of Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses (LMSA) (Phoebetria palpebrata) were investigated on subantarctic Macquarie Island using an automatic tracking system and automatic weighing nests. The nests were deployed under five chicks in the post-brood provisioning period in 2000 and 2001. Adults typically utilised a cyclical foraging strategy consisting of a long foraging trip followed by three to four shorter trips. Chicks received an average (+/- SE) of 37.5 +/- 2.3 kg of food in the post-brood provisioning period and were fed every 1.6 +/- 0.1 days with a mean meal size of 520 +/- 10 g. Chicks grew at a rate of 61.3 +/- 1.0 g day(-1) stop to a peak mass of 4.4 +/- 0.1 kg. Mean chick fledging mass was 3.0 +/- 0.1 kg. LMSA on Macquarie Island fed their chicks more frequently and showed a lower mean trip duration than conspecifics at South Georgia, which is likely related to proximity of productive Antarctic shelf waters, differences in prey availability and competition with other Procellariiformes.