3. GPS (iGotU) Tracking Data of Seabirds Breeding in the Main Hawaiian Islands
Dates
Publication Date
2019-12-31
Start Date
2013-08-07
End Date
2016-06-04
Citation
Felis, J.J., Czapanskiy, M.F., and Adams, J., 2020, At-sea ranging behavior of seabirds breeding in the main Hawaiian Islands: Bio-logger data release (ver. 2.0, May 2020): U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9NTEXM6.
Summary
We deployed modified iGotU GT-120 (Mobile Action Technologies, New Taipei City, Taiwan) on Red-tailed Tropicbirds (Phaethon rubricauda; 2014-2016), Brown Boobies (Sula leucogaster; 2014-2015), Red-footed Boobies (Sula sula; 2013-2015), and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters (Ardenna pacifica; 2013-2015). The iGotU GT-120 GPS tags are an archival unit, requiring recapture of the tagged bird to recover the tag and download data. Because these are consumer electronic products and not specifically designed for wildlife telemetry, we stripped GT-120 loggers from their factory housings and sealed them within 2:1 low-shrink-temperature, polyolefin heat-shrink tubing to create a lightweight, waterproof housing (AMS-DTL-23053/ 5-310, BuyHeatShrink.com, [...]
Summary
We deployed modified iGotU GT-120 (Mobile Action Technologies, New Taipei City, Taiwan) on Red-tailed Tropicbirds (Phaethon rubricauda; 2014-2016), Brown Boobies (Sula leucogaster; 2014-2015), Red-footed Boobies (Sula sula; 2013-2015), and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters (Ardenna pacifica; 2013-2015). The iGotU GT-120 GPS tags are an archival unit, requiring recapture of the tagged bird to recover the tag and download data. Because these are consumer electronic products and not specifically designed for wildlife telemetry, we stripped GT-120 loggers from their factory housings and sealed them within 2:1 low-shrink-temperature, polyolefin heat-shrink tubing to create a lightweight, waterproof housing (AMS-DTL-23053/ 5-310, BuyHeatShrink.com, Deerfield Beach, Florida). With the stock 380 mAh battery, the repackaged logger weighed 17 g.
For tropicbirds and boobies, tags were attached to the top (Red-tailed Tropicbirds 2016) or underside (all other deployments) of the central 2–4 retrices using tape (Tesa® 4651, Norderstedt, Germany). Tail-mounted tags were placed as close to the body as possible, near the insertion of tail feathers into the body. For Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, iGotU GPS tags were attached to several central back feathers using 4, 1-cm wide strips of Tesa Tape. The iGotU GPS tags were programmed to collect location data every 2–3 min continuously for a maximum expected battery life of approximately 10–14 d. Deployment-specific tag settings are documented in the Deployments table.
Downloaded GPS tag data were clipped to deployment and recovery times and concatenated into species-specific data tables, with each record representing a GPS or accelerometer measurement, timestamp, and DeployID. In addition, iGotU GPS tag data was filtered using the Freitas (2008) speed-distance-angle filter (R package argosfilter) to flag any drastically erroneous locations, which were few (argosfilter settings: vmax = 30, ang = c(15, 25), distlim = c(250, 1000)). An average of 0.44% + 0.38 SD (range 0 – 3.8%) of locations were flagged per tag using this filter. These locations were left in the data tables, but we recommend removing them, or applying a similar filter, when using these data. Tag data can be joined to additional deployment/ancillary information in the Deployments table by DeployID.
Click on title to download individual files attached to this item.
BRBO_iGotU.zip
1.67 MB
application/zip
RFBO_iGotU.zip
7.35 MB
application/zip
RTTR_iGotU.zip
2.27 MB
application/zip
WTSH_iGotU.zip
13.96 MB
application/zip
Purpose
GPS tracking data of seabirds breeding in the main Hawaiian Islands were collected for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to understand the at-sea distribution and ranging behaviors of seabirds and to inform marine spatial planning for potential offshore wind energy development.
