Abstracts

Presented by Luke Fara - Email: lfara@usgs.gov

Locating and capturing long-tailed ducks (LTDU: Clangula hyemalis) and other pelagic waterbirds at night is difficult on large bodies of water, such as the Great Lakes, particularly when there is little knowledge of night-time distributions. To increase capture opportunities, two approaches were used to supplement our knowledge of LTDU distributions on Lake Michigan. Aerial thermal imagery was used at night and flight crews were able to guide capture crews on the water to large waterbird distributions. Additionally, a subset of satellite transmitters (n=5) programmed to transmit at noon and midnight, were surgically implanted in males to document locations and diel movements of associated flocks. Long-tailed duck capture rates increased with enhanced knowledge of nighttime distributions provided by both the aerial thermal imagery and radiomarked male long-tailed ducks.