Evaluating camera monitoring of breeding seabirds

Abstract: This thesis was made in collaboration with the Baltic Seabird Project with the purpose of evaluating the possibilities of using cameras to monitor the fledging success of Common Guillemots on Stora Karlsö. Fledging success is measured from the time the egg is laid, hatched, until the chick is 15 days old and considered ready to leave the nest. Camera monitoring means that the breeding area where the birds reside is photographed at a predetermined interval to attempt to capture the offspring to determine its survival. The study was conducted on Stora Karlsö by installing cameras in the artificial breeding shelf, Auk Lab, and determine how well the method works. Whether the offspring can be caught on camera was the main question, with a secondary question addressing the differences from the traditional monitoring method which is done by daily controls by one person on site. The results show that camera monitoring can be a useful method. It is possible to observe the off-spring, but distance and angle are important factors affecting image quality. Power supply and the memory card size are important factors that decide whether time savings can be made compared to the traditional method. Further development of the routines for camera monitoring is necessary to create a reliable data collection