Due to recent interest in developing offshore wind energy infrastructure around the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI), U.S. Geological Survey Western Ecological Research Center (USGS–WERC) partnered with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) from 2013–2016 to study breeding Hawaiian seabird distributions, habitat utilizations, and ranging behaviors within near-island and outer continental shelf waters. In this study, we employed several bio-logging technologies to track at-sea movement and behavior of five MHI-breeding seabird species: Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster), Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis), Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda), Red-footed Booby (Sula sula), and Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna pacifica). Studies were conducted at multiple breeding colonies on or near the islands of Maui, O‘ahu, and Kaua‘i. We utilized Global Positioning System (GPS) tags to track seabird spatial movements, temperature-depth recorders (TDRs) to measure diving and immersion patterns, and accelerometry to identify behaviors. This data release provides all data collected in this study, organized into the following sections:
1. Deployments – Summary of all deployment and ancillary information for birds on which bio-loggers were deployed and for which data were recovered. To be used in conjunction with compiled bio-logger data (2–5, below) in this data release.
2. GPS-e-obs – GPS and accelerometry data collected using e-obs model tags
3. GPS-iGotU – GPS data collected using iGotu model tags
4. TDR FastLog – TDR data of potential dives
5. TDR WetDry – TDR data of wet (immersion) time periods
All data are relatable by a unique “DeployID” used for every deployment of a tag (or combination of tags) on a bird. Summary information and file metadata for each section of this release provide specific details on data structure, formatting, and potential use.
These data support the following publication:
Adams, J, Felis, JJ, Czapanskiy, MF. 2020. Habitat Affinities and At-Sea Ranging Behaviors among Main Hawaiian Island Seabirds: Breeding Seabird Telemetry, 2013–2016. Camarillo (CA): U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Pacific OCS Region. OCS Study BOEM 2020-006. 111 pages.
