A review of flight-initiation distances and their application to managing disturbance to Australian birds

Weston, Michael A.; McLeod, Emily M.; Blumstein, Daniel T.; Guay, Patrick-Jean

doi:10.1071/mu12026

Cited by 223 publications

(225 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…Estimates of FID have significant ramifications for management of shorebird and waterbird breeding and stopover habitat , Koch and Paton 2014, Rodgers and Smith 1995, Weston et al 2012a). The median FID we documented when birds were disturbed by walkers or boats (~40 m) is similar to distances reported in previous studies (e.g., Blumstein 2003, Burger and Gochfeld 1991, Thomas et al 2003, but less than values reported for some larger species of shorebirds documented in other areas (e.g., Koch and Paton 2014), perhaps due to different methods of observation and analysis between studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Responses of Birds to Humans at a Coastal Barrier Beach: Napatree Point, Rhode Island

Mayo

Paton

August

2015

Northeastern Naturalist

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-Human activity is one of the most important factors affecting disturbance to birds that use coastal barrier beaches in southern New England. The barrier beach at Napatree Point, RI, provides important breeding habitat for several bird species, key stopover habitat for thousands of migrating shorebirds, and is also a popular destination for people. Anecdotal evidence suggested that walkers, joggers, dogs, and watercraft were disrupting birds that foraged and roosted at this site. Our objectives were to characterize the frequency and sources of disturbance to birds and use this information to develop management recommendations to minimize the frequency of human disturbances to birds at Napatree Point. We conducted 106 hours of observation from May through August in 2013. Of 211 flight responses, the most common sources of disturbance to birds were beach walkers (57.8%), motorboats (8.5%), kayaks (8.5%), bird watchers (7.6%), and anglers (6.2%). Birds typically flushed when pedestrians (e.g., walkers, bird watchers, and anglers) were within 39 ± 24 m (median ± inter-quartile range) and watercraft (e.g., motorboats and kayaks) were within 38 ± 33 m. Flight responses were positively correlated with the number of people on the beach and the number of boats in the area. Disturbances to birds peaked in July when human visitation was highest. Using a spatially explicit density map of flight-initiation distance vectors, we identified the most important area to set as a buffer zone for human access if managers seek to reduce the frequency of human disturbances to birds at Napatree Point.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Avian use of critical habitats such as these can be impacted by a variety of anthropogenic factors (Glover et al 2011, Madsen 1995, Weston et al 2012a. Birds typically exhibit a flight response when approached by humans.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of Birds to Humans at a Coastal Barrier Beach: Napatree Point, Rhode Island

Mayo

Paton

August

2015

Northeastern Naturalist

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“…The distance at which recommendations for standard data collection have been made (Weston et al 2012).…”

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confidence: 99%

Observer effects occur when estimating alert but not flight-initiation distances

et al. 2013

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Abstract. 23 Context. The estimation of alert (vigilance) and flight-initiation (escape) distances 24(AD and FID) has underpinned theoretical and applied studies of the escape 25 behaviour and management of disturbance to wildlife. Many studies use multiple 26 observers, and some conduct meta-analyses; these efforts assume no observer 27 effects in the estimation of these distances. Implications. We recommend the use of FID rather than AD for comparative 37 analyses which involve multiple observers, since FID is more reliably measured.

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“…FID is a common measure of the bird response to human disturbance or predation risk (Weston et al, 2012), and it is directly related with the remaining time to escape from the approaching train. We used the poles supporting the catenary, which are 60 m apart, as a distance reference.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On-Board Video Recording Unravels Bird Behavior and Mortality Produced by High-Speed Trains

et al. 2017

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Large high-speed railway (HSR) networks are planned for the near future to accomplish increased transport demand with low energy consumption. However, high-speed trains produce unknown avian mortality due to birds using the railway and being unable to avoid approaching trains. Safety and logistic difficulties have precluded until now mortality estimation in railways through carcass removal, but information technologies can overcome such problems. We present the results obtained with an experimental on-board system to record bird-train collisions composed by a frontal recording camera, a GPS navigation system and a data storage unit. An observer standing in the cabin behind the driver controlled the system and filled out a form with data of collisions and bird observations in front of the train. Photographs of the train front taken before and after each journey were used to improve the record of killed birds. Trains running the 321.7 km line between Madrid and Albacete (Spain) at speeds up to 250-300 km/h were equipped with the system during 66 journeys along a year, totaling approximately 14,700 km of effective recording. The review of videos produced 1,090 bird observations, 29.4% of them corresponding to birds crossing the infrastructure under the catenary and thus facing collision risk. Recordings also showed that 37.7% bird crossings were of animals resting on some element of the infrastructure moments before the train arrival, and that the flight initiation distance of birds (mean ± SD) was between 60 ± 33 m (passerines) and 136 ± 49 m (raptors). Mortality in the railway was estimated to be 60.5 birds/km year on a line section with 53 runs per day and 26.1 birds/km year in a section with 25 runs per day. Our results are the first published estimation of bird mortality in a HSR and show the potential of information technologies to yield useful data for monitoring the impact of trains on birds via on-board recording systems. Moreover, recordings point to the use of the infrastructure by birds as a key issue leading to bird train-kill.

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A review of flight-initiation distances and their application to managing disturbance to Australian birds

Abstract: 26

Cited by 223 publications

References 79 publications

Responses of Birds to Humans at a Coastal Barrier Beach: Napatree Point, Rhode Island

Responses of Birds to Humans at a Coastal Barrier Beach: Napatree Point, Rhode Island

Observer effects occur when estimating alert but not flight-initiation distances

On-Board Video Recording Unravels Bird Behavior and Mortality Produced by High-Speed Trains

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