No "carry-over" effects of tracking devices on return rate and parameters determining reproductive success in once and repeatedly tagged common swifts (Apus apus), a long-distance migratory bird.
Arndt H J WellbrockKlaudia WittePublished in: Movement ecology (2022)
Once and repeatedly tagged birds returned to the colony at a similar rate as non-logger birds and arrived earlier than non-logger birds. We found no effect of logger-type on return rate in logger birds. We detected no differences in apparent survival, time lag to clutch initiation, date of clutch initiation, clutch size, number of chicks and fledglings between logger and non-logger birds. We found neither an effect of loggers nor of logger-types on the arrival date and breeding parameter on individual-level. Arrival date was highly repeatable and date of clutch initiation was moderately repeatable within repeatedly tagged individuals.