An audio–visual nest monitoring system for the study and manipulation of siblicide in bearded vultures Gypaetus barbatus on the island of Crete (Greece)

Abstract

We describe here an automated surveillance system that was installed in a bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) nest in Crete during [2003][2004][2005][2006] with the aim of studying siblicide in this species. The system caused only minimal levels of disturbance to the birds and was capable of operating autonomously for more than 1 week. It comprised (1) a nest monitoring subsystem (camera, microphone, battery with a charge controller and a transmitter together with an antenna), which was supported by a solar panel, and (2) a recording subsystem (antenna receiver, video signal controller and a remote controlled PC through a GSM modem) that compressed the audiovideo signal and provided real time monitoring. Two-egg clutches with a 7-day laying and hatching interval were recorded while hatching asynchrony was also determined through an analysis of the bioacoustic data. Food delivery rate and number of feeds to the first chick increased after the hatching of its sibling although not significantly so. Of the aggressive interactions recorded, 98% were initiated by the dominant chick and resulted in an average of 246 ± 157 peckings per day. Supplementary feeding did not produce any significant correlation between feeding rate and sibling aggression. The second chick survived 5 days and died as a result of starvation accelerated by sibling aggression. Intervention measures aimed at increasing the survival chance of the second chick should be undertaken when the latter is 1-2 days old.

Testing camera traps as a potential tool for detecting nest predation of birds in a tropical rainforest environment

“…However, the primary limitation of most devices is the requirement of separate parts, e.g. cameras, batteries, and motion sensors, that are difficult to carry and to set up in the field (Pierce and Pobprasert 2007, Sabine et al 2005, Grivas et al 2009, Gula et al 2010, Smith et al 2012, Denmon et al 2013. Digital video cameras that are currently available commercially (e.g.…”

Role of Cyclonic Storm as Natural Disaster and other Factors on Vulture Mortality in India

“…Such factors are already covered in a recently published review article by Paital et al [29]. The authors made a perspective that hunting [31], pollution [30,[32][33][34], food scarcity and cannibalism [24,33,34], ingestion of contaminated food and food poisoning [35][36][37][38][39][40][41], multiple physiological disorders including nutritional problems [14,42], lack of proper nesting and resting places [8], genotoxic factors [43,44], problems related to breeding [24,45], electrocution and air traffic [38,46,47] epidemic and endemic diseases [38,[48][49][50][51], pathological susceptibility [22,41,48,[52][53][54] etc. may be contributing factors for vulture mortality.…”

“…Grivas et al [42] described an automated surveillance system used to study siblicide in a bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) nest in Crete from [2003][2004][2005][2006]. On the basis of these results, the authors concluded that measures aimed at increasing the survival of the second chick should be undertaken when it is 1-2 days old.…”

A portable low‐cost remote videography system for monitoring wildlife

“…In bird studies, video cameras are normally placed in or near the nests of focal individuals, providing an accurate record of both nestling (McDonald, Olsen & Cockburn 2005;Grivas et al 2009) and parental behaviours (McDonald, Olsen & Cockburn 2005;Pierce & Pobprasert 2007). Owing to the nature of video, events can be reviewed repeatedly to gather detailed behavioural information.…”