The remote collection of animal location data has proliferated in recent decades, and higher-frequency data are increasingly available with battery-saving optimisations such as ‘snapshot’ algorithms that acquire GPS satellite data and post-process locations off-board. This is the first study to assess the effects of vegetation and topography on the fix success rate and location error of global positioning system (GPS) devices that use the SWIFT fix algorithm, developed by Lotek. To assess fix success rate (FSR—the proportion of successful fixes compared to the total number of attempts) and location error (LE), we conducted a stationary test at a predominately forested site on the South Island of New Zealand. The overall FSR was 83% (± 15.3% SD), which was affected strongly by canopy closure above 90%. Half of the locations were within 8.65 m of the true location, 79.7% were within 30 m, and 95% of locations were within 271 m. When 6 or more satellites were used, this reduced to 4.92 m and 18.6 m for 50% and 95%, respectively. Horizontal dilution of precision (HDOP), the number of satellites, and canopy closure all influenced location error. To field test the fix success rate of SWIFT GPS devices, we deployed them on forest-dwelling parrots with 2 and 3-h fix intervals, which showed similar FSR results to the stationary test when cavity-nesting individuals were removed (FSR mean ± SD = 81.6 ± 5.0%). The devices lasted an average of 147 days before depleting the battery, resulting in an average of 1087 successful fixes per individual at an average time of 9.38 s to acquire the GPS ephemeris, resulting in an average of 3.73 attempted locations per mAh of battery for PinPoint 350 devices. Our study provides a baseline for fix success rates and location errors under forested conditions that can be used for future SWIFT GPS tracking studies.

Individual-level differences in animal spatial behaviour have been identified in numerous species, which can lead to differential exposure to risk for different groups, particularly for reintroduced species in fragmented landscapes. To assess the risk-exposure of a population of kākā (Nestor meridionalis) reintroduced into a fenced reserve, we GPS-tracked 10 individuals and estimated their home ranges and temporal space use variability (SUV). We compared home range area (within 95% contour of utilisation distribution - UD95) between individuals in relation to age, sex, and fledging origin, and assessed risk exposure by calculating the proportion of each individual's home range beyond the reserve's fence. To estimate temporal variability within each individual's space use, we used a sweeping window framework to estimate occurrence distributions of temporally overlapping snapshots of the movement trajectory. For each occurrence distribution, we calculated the proportion outside the reserve's fence to assess how risk exposure changed throughout time, and the UD95area and UD95centroid to assess the behavioural pattern of space use. Home range area declined significantly and consistently with age (up to 27-fold differences), and the space use of juvenile kākā was more temporally dynamic, particularly in relation to drift of the UD95centroid. The wider-ranging behaviour of younger kākā resulted in more time spent outside the reserve, which aligned with a higher number of incidental mortality observations of younger individuals. Quantifying both the home range and space use variability of populations that may encounter spatially dependent threats is an effective approach to assess risk exposure, which can provide guidance for management interventions. We also emphasise the temporal space use variability approach, which is a flexible approach that can provide numerous insights and has not been widely adopted in the literature. We provide code and data such that all the analyses in this study can be reproduced.