Tracking Australasian gannets with µGPS in New Zealand
Client enquiry:
The colony of Australasian gannets (Morus serrator) at Cape Kidnappers is one of the few (and largest) mainland breeding sites of these magnificent birds. Apart from being a major tourist attraction to the region its accessibility makes it a perfect base for scientific research. Ms. Steffi Ismar and Dr. Mark Hauber, researchers from the School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland are most interested in where the adult birds forage during the four odd months that they spend incubating and fledging their chicks.
Sirtrack response:
Sirtrack supplied two rechargeable µGPS data loggers free of charge to prove their suitability for use on diving sea birds. Answers to some of their questions can now be provided by the latest technology supplied by Sirtrack.
Outcome:
The research has been carried out with a permit and support from the Department of Conservation. Numerous one and two day round trip tracks have been recorded during the researcher’s regular visits to the colony throughout the 2007/2008 breeding season. The success of the units on the gannets has been fantastic. See the attached Google Earth image for an example of two different gannet’s tracks taken over the same two day period, (one night spent at sea).
Download track data to view with Google Earth (kmz file, requires Google Earth to run).
Google Earth available for download from http://earth.google.com.