Summary: A MINIATURE ACTIVITY RECORDER FOR
PLUNGE-DIVING SEABIRDS
DAVID J. ANDERSON,l'· PAUL R. $IEVERT,1
JOHNANDREWS-LABENSKI,2AND ROBERTE. RICKLEFS·
aDepartmentofBiology,LeidyLaboratory,UniversityofPennsylvania,
Philadelphia,Pennsylvania19104-6018USA,and
2DepartmentofPsychology,UniversityofPennsylvania,
Philadelphia,Pennsylvania19104-6196USA
A·STRACr.--Wepresentdesignspecificationsfor a self-containedactivityrecorder,devel-
oped for use on plunge-diving seabirds.Compressedintegrated circuitry and miniature
componentsallow constructionof recorderssmallenough(28g) to be mountedon the tails
of boobies and other seabirds. The cost is moderate. Field tests of the recorder on Brown
Boobies(Sulaleucogaster)demonstratedits ability to measureforagingbehaviorat seathat
typically cannotbe observeddirectly. Received17January1990,accepted25 September1990.
M·N¾ seabirdspeciesforage far from land,
and studiesof their activity away from terres-
trial breedingcoloniesare difficult. Although
seabirdscan be observedfrom ships,one usu-
ally doesnot know the individual's age,breed-
ing status,and colony location. In addition,

Source: Anderson, David J. - Department of Biology, Wake Forest University
Schweik, Charles M. - Department of Natural Resources Conservation, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Collections: Environmental Sciences and Ecology