Monitoring Tropicbirds, an introductory guide

This manual emphasises on practical methods, and some methods which (though highly accurate) are too labour-intensive or time-consuming for general monitoring use have been omitted. The methods presented in this manual deal only with assessment of population sizes, population changes, and the numbers of chicks produced by breeding pairs. It is also important to monitor other population parameters such as adult survival rates, diet, rate of food-delivery to chicks, or growth- rates of chicks. However, the methods required for monitoring survival rates, in particular, are labour-intensive for widespread use and are thus beyond the scope of this document. Some other measures and suggestions worth considering have been provided, but these largely go beyond monitoring and into the realm of research.

Please use this document as a guide, but remember there has been little published work on tropicbird species. Consequently, the opportunity to find new and important things about their biology, population ecology and conservation awaits you.