Viola H. Ross-Smith

A trial of three harness attachment methods and their suitability for long-term use on Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Great Skuas

Tracking devices are useful in studying the movement and behaviour of birds throughout the year. However, the effects of device attachment must be monitored for bird welfare and the scientific veracity of information gathered. We report on a trial of three different harness types (leg-loop, body and wing) for attaching GPS devices to Lesser Black-backed Gulls Larus fuscus and of a leg-loop harness on Great Skuas Stercorarius skua. This trial evaluated the functionality of the device whilst deployed, harness retention and the effects of each harness on the birds. The leg-loop harness prevented the devices from charging, due to feathers overlapping their solar panels, and individuals of both species shed this attachment during the first breeding season. For Lesser Black-backed Gull, devices functioned properly when attached using body and wing harnesses; foraging behaviour and territory attendance of birds were similar to the findings of other studies. Despite small sample sizes, annual adult survival rates for Lesser Black-backed Gull were similar to published estimates, suggesting harnesses had no deleterious effects. The wing harness has a smaller amount of skin contact than the body harness, and a non-constricting fit that better accommodates changes in body size. The wing harness was therefore considered the most appropriate for long-term studies.

Results from the first GPS tracking of roof-nesting Herring Gulls Larus argentatus in the UK

ABSTRACT Recent developments in GPS tracking technology allow the movements of bird species to be followed in ever-greater detail. Seabird research is benefiting greatly, due to the challenges of tracking species that often roam widely out at sea. Amongst the gulls, one of the pressing issues is to understand the ecology of the relatively recent urban colonists and how they differ from their counterparts in traditional rural colonies. Here, we present what we believe are the first GPS results from roof-nesting gulls. Four adult Herring Gulls (two males, two females) were fitted with GPS tags in May 2014 in the seaside town of St Ives, Cornwall (breeding colony c 250 pairs), and tracked for c 100 days during the 2014 breeding season. We estimated the home ranges of the four individuals and how their movement behaviour varied through the 24-h period and across the breeding season. The results highlight how variable movement behaviour was among individuals: whilst one bird roamed widely (90% range estimate = 560 km2), heading >50 km offshore and often active at night or roosting at sea, two birds had small ranges (<10 km2), always attended the colony at night and rarely headed more than a few hundred metres offshore, with the fourth displaying intermediate behaviour. All of the birds regularly utilised a few key sites within the agricultural landscape south of St Ives. Whilst this study was too small to allow general conclusions to be drawn about urban Herring Gulls, it reinforces how variable individual behaviour can be amongst the large gulls and will be particularly interesting when applied to a larger sample of birds, especially in big urban gull colonies further inland.

Sharing the aerosphere: conflicts and potential solutions

As our use of the aerosphere is increasing, so too are the conflicts that arise between our activities and those of aerial wildlife. As a result, numerous stakeholders are interested in monitoring, modelling and forecasting the aerial movements of animals in the context of anthropogenic impacts. Birds can pose a serious threat to aviation, resulting in delays, damage to aircraft, lost flight hours and even the loss of lives. Military and civil aviation use a range of measures to monitor the movements of birds and to try and reduce the risk of wildlife strikes. Increasingly, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are sharing an already crowded airspace, although just how problematic this may become remains to be seen. The wind energy industry, another important stakeholder, may pose serious threats for aerial wildlife, due to collisions with turbines, or the extra energetic costs and risks entailed with avoiding wind farms. Similarly, other tall structures pose a threat for aerial wildlife. In this chapter, we describe the nature of these different conflicts and provide an overview of the factors that influence the risk associated with aerial movement. We also describe how movement is being studied to provide essential information for these different stakeholders and discuss several of the solutions that have been implemented to reduce potential conflicts. We conclude by discussing future perspectives for reducing conflicts by integrating different technologies for studying aerial movement, diverse approaches for modelling movement and working across international borders.