Using GPS tracking to determine flight patterns of red-footed boobies (Sula sula) near Palmyra Atoll

<a href="https://embed.stanford.edu/iframe/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpurl.stanford.edu%2Fdg327ng8260" class="su-underline">Show Content</a>

Abstract/Contents

Abstract: Efforts to understand Palmyra Atoll’s natural systems have concentrated mostly on marine communities, but recent work has been undertaken to investigate its terrestrial communities. Red-footed boobies represent one of many bird populations inhabiting Palmyra. We investigated the flight and foraging movements of red-footed boobies nesting on the north-western side of the atoll using GPS data logging tags. The birds flew in a westerly direction from their nest sites towards an area of patchy ocean primary productivity, suggesting that wind direction and nest location may be stronger factors than primary productivity in determining flight direction. In seagoing flights, the birds demonstrated two modes of behavior, “directed movement” and “meandering”, which differed significantly in speed and linearity of flight. These two modes of movement at sea suggest a foraging strategy that emphasizes searching for food over large areas and catching prey in small patches.

Type of resource	text
Date created	June 11, 2007

Author	Kunz, Melissa
Author	Lone, Karen

Subject	Stanford@SEA
Subject	S-211
Subject	Hopkins Marine Station
Subject	Department of Biology
Subject	Department of Earth System Science
Subject	BIOHOPK 182H
Subject	BIOHOPK 323H
Subject	EARTHSYS 323
Subject	ESS 323
Subject	Palmyra
Subject	terrestrial
Subject	red-footed booby
Subject	primary production
Subject	flight direction
Subject	directed movement
Subject	meandering
Subject	foraging
Genre	Student project report

Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/dg327ng8260

Use and reproduction: User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC BY).

Preferred Citation: Kunz, Melissa; Lone, Karen. 2007. Using GPS tracking to determine flight patterns of red-footed boobies (Sula sula) near Palmyra Atoll. Unpublished Student Work, S-211, Stanford@SEA, Stanford Digital Repository. https://purl.stanford.edu/dg327ng8260.

Stanford@SEA -- Student papers

Loading usage metrics...