new tool to find nests from tracking data

[Steffen Oppel]

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past year we developed a tool that allows you to estimate if and where a tracked bird has nested, and whether it has successfully raised offspring. We developed this model using a large dataset of red kites in Switzerland, but it should in theory also work for other birds like Egyptian Vultures (a similar tool, nestR, has already been used in Spain).

The paper describing this tool is openly available here.

The R-package can be installed from GitHub from here (this is similar to the already existing nestR, but a lot faster).

There is a field app that draws on the most recent tracking data from Movebank and allows you to navigate to a likely nest site if you use this app on a mobile device in the field. Note that this is only available for people who have access to your Movebank account, so while the app is publicly available, it won’t be of any use to nefarious actors interested in raptor nests.

If you would be interested in using this tool, but struggle to make it work (or find any bugs), please contact me and I’d be happy to help (and grateful for any errors you can point out).

Cheers,

Steffen

 

 

Steffen Oppel

Ecological Research employee

Ph: +41 41 462 99 55

Email: steffe...@vogelwarte.ch

www.vogelwarte.ch/Steffen-Oppel

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Swiss Ornithological Institute

Seerose 1

6204 Sempach

Switzerland

www.vogelwarte.ch

 

Stiftung           Schweizerische Vogelwarte

Fondation      Station Ornithologique Suisse

Fondazione   Stazione Ornitologica Svizzera

Fundaziun      Staziun Ornitologica Svizra

Foundation    Swiss Ornithological Institute

 

[Steffen Oppel]

Now that the Egyptian Vultures have returned from their spring migration, I wanted to update you that this tool to find nests from tracking data has been moved to a new stable URL that can handle more traffic. Both of these apps require active Movebank logins and are therefore not available to the general public:

The app to check whether birds are still alive (and where they are) is here.

The app to point out the most likely nest location of the current season is here.

If you have any suggestions or encounter errors please don't hesitate to get in touch. We haven't tried these apps for too many species, so any feedback (even from non-vultures) might be helpful.

Cheers,

Steffen