In 2023, we continued our work to better understand the ecology of seabirds at Tetiaroa in relation to removal of rats from the island. This incuded collecting data on nesting success, nest density, and activity of seabirds, long-term survival of seabirds, and foraging ecology of seabirds. We collected data on nesting success of Brown Boobies for 6 months (January – June) using remotely triggered cameras and visual observations on 505 Brown Booby nests to determine the rate and, when possible, cause of nest failure. Data shows that storm swells and rats were the leading causes of nest failures prior to rat eradication.
To determine the relative activity of seabird species, we maintained 41 acoustic recorders that record audio each hour across the atoll. We banded 121 individual birds in order to provide long-term identifications and in October, we placed GPS tracking units on 12 Brown Boobies nesting on Tahuna Iti.
Figure 2: GPS recorded tracks for 11 tagged Brown Boobies from October - December 2023 are shown, each panel is an individual bird. All individuals but one (78524C19) were recorded making southern trips to Moorea and/or Tahiti.