Short-tailed Shearwater Geolocation Tracking in the Southern Ocean

50 geolocation archival tag deployments on 34 adult Short-tailed shearwaters were conducted from Wedge Island, Tasmania. Data collection occurred during the pre-laying exodus, incubation, and early chick-rearing phases, with specific tracking in 2012 involving 12 birds. The dataset is presented by the Australian Ocean Data Network and was last updated in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling migration routes and non-breeding distributions based on geolocation tracking data.
• Analyzing foraging behavior during different breeding phases (pre-laying, incubation, chick-rearing).
• Studying site fidelity and inter-annual movement patterns of individual birds.
• Informing marine spatial planning and conservation efforts in the Southern Ocean based on habitat use.

Strengths

• Data from 50 tag deployments on 34 individual birds provides multiple tracking events.
• Tracking covers three distinct breeding phases (pre-laying exodus, incubation, early chick-rearing).
• Specific geographic origins are documented (Wedge Island and Whalebone Point, Bruny Island).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to data_gov_au, focusing on Tasmanian colonies.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Data collected from geolocation archival (GLS) tags deployed on recaptured birds.

Time Range

Includes tracking from 2012; specific deployment dates in October are mentioned.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-18 18:55:37.239653; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Southern Ocean, with initial study on Wedge Island, southern Tasmania.