INCITAP   20787
INSTITUTO DE CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA Y AMBIENTALES DE LA PAMPA
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Using drones to reduce disturbance while monitoring Chaco Eagle nests
Autor/es:
SARASOLA, JOSÉ HERNÁN; GALLEGO, DIEGO
Lugar:
Conferencia Virtual
Reunión:
Congreso; North American Ornithological Conference; 2020
Institución organizadora:
Birds of the World
Resumen:
In birds, obtaining information related to offspring status or breeding success is essential for population monitoring of species of conservation concern. Traditionally, nest monitoring demands a lot of time and effort in order to gather proper information and avoiding nest disturbance. Drones present an alternative, but few studies have been done measuring their influence on breeding birds. In this research, we performed 65 flights over endangered Chaco Eagle nests, and compared the usage of both methodologies in terms of efficiency, adult behavior and disturbance effects on reproductive success.On the one hand, concerning efficiency, we calculated the time needed for each procedure and the effects of pilot experience and tree height on drone flight durations. Now turn your eyes to figure 1.1 (the boxplot), and you will realize that drone monitoring was almost 3 times faster than tree climbing. Also, looking at figure 1.2, which represents flight times related to experience at each tree, you will see that experience is a rank concerning drone flights, since it reduced flight time. Lastly, in figure 1.3 you will notice that flights were longer in higher trees, as expected.On the other hand, we classified adult Chaco Eagle´s behavior towards drones during flights into 4 groups of increasing disturbance: vigilance (if the adult was looking straight to the drone), alarm (explained by warning calls), flight (in case the eagle escaped from the nest) and attack if it dove or flew directly towards the drone. Now, check figure 2. The frequency of each behavior is shown during the two stages of breeding. As you can see, most adults did not show a strong response towards drones, remaining vigilant or, at the most, emitting alarm calls. Only one adult escaped from the nest and no attack to drones was recorded. Of course, this is an interesting result, since in the past (when nests were always climbed), adults always flew away from the nestLastly, breeding success of nests monitored with the drone was not different than that of nests monitored by traditional tree-climbing methods.To sum up, Chaco Eagle nest monitoring with drones is effective, time-saving and less disturbing, compared to tree-climbing.The use of drones should not be discarded as an alternative method for monitoring breeding birds. Previous practice is suggested, along with specific guidelines, to avoid interference between individuals and drones.