An inexpensive “smart” trap to capture nestbox-breeding owls and reduce sex biases in ringing data
The ringing and controlling of previously marked birds are invaluable tools for studying the survival, productivity, and movement of birds. To maximize the value of ringing data, it is important to minimize any potential biases. For some species, such as nestbox-breeding owls, ringing records are ty...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Resilience Alliance
2025-06-01
|
| Series: | Journal of Field Ornithology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journal.afonet.org/vol96/iss2/art7 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849426348547768320 |
|---|---|
| author | Johan F Nilsson Hannah Watson |
| author_facet | Johan F Nilsson Hannah Watson |
| author_sort | Johan F Nilsson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The ringing and controlling of previously marked birds are invaluable tools for studying the survival, productivity, and movement of birds. To maximize the value of ringing data, it is important to minimize any potential biases. For some species, such as nestbox-breeding owls, ringing records are typically heavily skewed toward females because they generally are easier to catch. The use of traditional mechanical nestbox traps can be vulnerable to false activation, incur lengthy disturbance and be labor-intensive to capture both members of a breeding pair. Here, we describe the design and construction of an inexpensive “smart” trap that provides a highly efficient method to capture nestbox-breeding owls and raptors. The trap is operated by a Raspberry Pi microcomputer and can send a text message to a designated phone number, allowing rapid retrieval of the captured bird and re-setting of the trap. From 2020 to 2023, using the smart trap, we successfully captured all the breeding male Tawny Owls Strix aluco in our study population. The trap also facilitated the capture of both adults of a breeding pair twice during the breeding season (to deploy and retrieve GPS loggers). By making this trap design openly available, we hope that more ornithologists will start to routinely catch male, as well as female, nestbox-breeding owls, thereby reducing the marked sex bias in ringing data. The trap can also be easily modified to facilitate capture of other nestbox-breeding birds and raptors. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6cbebb9a64bf44fb88b8a74dd5751e29 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1557-9263 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Resilience Alliance |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Field Ornithology |
| spelling | doaj-art-6cbebb9a64bf44fb88b8a74dd5751e292025-08-20T03:29:27ZengResilience AllianceJournal of Field Ornithology1557-92632025-06-01962710.5751/JFO-00633-960207633An inexpensive “smart” trap to capture nestbox-breeding owls and reduce sex biases in ringing dataJohan F Nilsson0Hannah Watson1Department of Biology, Lund UniversityDepartment of Biology, Lund UniversityThe ringing and controlling of previously marked birds are invaluable tools for studying the survival, productivity, and movement of birds. To maximize the value of ringing data, it is important to minimize any potential biases. For some species, such as nestbox-breeding owls, ringing records are typically heavily skewed toward females because they generally are easier to catch. The use of traditional mechanical nestbox traps can be vulnerable to false activation, incur lengthy disturbance and be labor-intensive to capture both members of a breeding pair. Here, we describe the design and construction of an inexpensive “smart” trap that provides a highly efficient method to capture nestbox-breeding owls and raptors. The trap is operated by a Raspberry Pi microcomputer and can send a text message to a designated phone number, allowing rapid retrieval of the captured bird and re-setting of the trap. From 2020 to 2023, using the smart trap, we successfully captured all the breeding male Tawny Owls Strix aluco in our study population. The trap also facilitated the capture of both adults of a breeding pair twice during the breeding season (to deploy and retrieve GPS loggers). By making this trap design openly available, we hope that more ornithologists will start to routinely catch male, as well as female, nestbox-breeding owls, thereby reducing the marked sex bias in ringing data. The trap can also be easily modified to facilitate capture of other nestbox-breeding birds and raptors.https://journal.afonet.org/vol96/iss2/art7bandingcapture methodsnestboxowlsraptorsringingtrap |
| spellingShingle | Johan F Nilsson Hannah Watson An inexpensive “smart” trap to capture nestbox-breeding owls and reduce sex biases in ringing data Journal of Field Ornithology banding capture methods nestbox owls raptors ringing trap |
| title | An inexpensive “smart” trap to capture nestbox-breeding owls and reduce sex biases in ringing data |
| title_full | An inexpensive “smart” trap to capture nestbox-breeding owls and reduce sex biases in ringing data |
| title_fullStr | An inexpensive “smart” trap to capture nestbox-breeding owls and reduce sex biases in ringing data |
| title_full_unstemmed | An inexpensive “smart” trap to capture nestbox-breeding owls and reduce sex biases in ringing data |
| title_short | An inexpensive “smart” trap to capture nestbox-breeding owls and reduce sex biases in ringing data |
| title_sort | inexpensive smart trap to capture nestbox breeding owls and reduce sex biases in ringing data |
| topic | banding capture methods nestbox owls raptors ringing trap |
| url | https://journal.afonet.org/vol96/iss2/art7 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT johanfnilsson aninexpensivesmarttraptocapturenestboxbreedingowlsandreducesexbiasesinringingdata AT hannahwatson aninexpensivesmarttraptocapturenestboxbreedingowlsandreducesexbiasesinringingdata AT johanfnilsson inexpensivesmarttraptocapturenestboxbreedingowlsandreducesexbiasesinringingdata AT hannahwatson inexpensivesmarttraptocapturenestboxbreedingowlsandreducesexbiasesinringingdata |