Foraging in birds: problems and solutions to understand species that dine in unusual places

Many studies of birds in their environment rely on simple visual observation, a process that can be enhanced by optical instrumentation but which suffers a number of substantial limitations. The advent of radio-telemetry changed that, allowing researchers to determine the position of their subjects, even when they could not be seen, as long as the range between radio receiver and birds was not excessive. Recently, however, there has been a move from transmission telemetry to logging technology where animals are equipped with units that record parameters irrespective of the proximity of observers. This technology is immensely powerful and has provided some remarkable insights into the biology of enigmatic creatures. This talk will consider this approach and provide examples that demonstrate the power of this technique for elucidating otherwise impossible aspects of animal biology.