GPS tracking data of Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Herring Gulls breeding at the southern North Sea coast

By

Stienen, Eric
Desmet, Peter
Aelterman, Bart
Courtens, Wouter
Feys, Simon
Vanermen, Nicolas
Verstraete, Hilbran
Van de Walle, Marc
Deneudt, Klaas
Hernandez, Francisco
Houthoofdt, Robin
Vanhoorne, Bart
Bouten, Willem
Buijs, Roland-Jan
Kavelaars, Marwa M.
Müller, Wendt
Herman, David
Matheve, Hans
Sotillo, Alejandro
Lens, Luc

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2016

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

555

Pages

115-124

Subjects

animal movement , bird tracking , GPS tracking , habitat use , Herring Gull , Larus argentatus , Larus fuscus , Lesser black-backed gull , LifeWatch , MachineObservation , Migration , observation , occurrence , open data , UvA-BiTS

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.555.6173

 

Abstract

In this data paper, Bird tracking - GPS tracking of Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Herring Gulls breeding at the southern North Sea coast is described, a species occurrence dataset published by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). The dataset (version 5.5) contains close to 2.5 million occurrences, recorded by 101 GPS trackers mounted on 75 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 26 Herring Gulls breeding at the Belgian and Dutch coast. The trackers were developed by the University of Amsterdam Bird Tracking System (UvA-BiTS, http://www.uva-bits.nl). These automatically record and transmit bird movements, which allows us and others to study their habitat use and migration behaviour in great detail. Our bird tracking network is operational since 2013. It is funded for LifeWatch by the Hercules Foundation and maintained in collaboration with UvA-BiTS and the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ). The recorded data are periodically released in bulk as open data (http://dataset.inbo.be/bird-tracking-gull-occurrences), and are also accessible through CartoDB and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).