Breeding success of Red-billed tropic birds at pilot hill, St.Eustatius - a follow up study (2013-2014)

Assessment of the breeding success of Red-billed Tropicbirds (Phaethon aethereus) at the Pilot Hill site on St. Eustatius, particularly in relation to predation at the nest. We conducted weekly surveys during 2013-2014 and measured chick and adult morphometrics. Overall apparent hatching success was 64.6%, while apparent fledging success was 75.6%. We used cameras to document the presence of predators at nest sites and wax bait blocks to estimate rat density. Camera traps documented rats opportunistically scavenging eggs that were left unattended for even short periods of time. In total we documented nine predation events of eggs by rats at eight individual nesting cavities.