Jan - March: Data processing tasks ongoing. Surveys continue for shearwaters, pelicans, boobies and cormorants. Acoustic and time-lapse camera arrays deployed to collect acoustic data and information on breeding phenology. April: Preparation for upcoming breeding season of terns, noddies, gulls and large-scale survey work for the summer! Drone image processing ongoing. May: Next round of seabird surveys starts! RSPB / SFL team arrive from UK! June - July: Drone surveys on Turks and Caicos Banks
2022
Jan - June: Ongoing analysis of brown booby video and acoustic data for the EU Horizon 2020 funded seabird project! March: Field trip to seabird colonies in Cancun, Mexico to tag frigatebirds and boobies - Adult and immature frigatebirds tagged with GPS-GSM loggers; paper on frigatebirds and rain published in the journal 'Behavioural Ecology' (see here!) May: Award notification for Darwin Plus Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) seabird project! June - July: TCI seabird project takes off, led by the University of Liverpool in collaboration with the Turks and Caicos National Trust, Turks and Caicos Reef Fund, RSPB, SAERI Falklands Ltd, Birdlife International and the Department of Environment and Coastal Resources, TCI Government. Seabird surveys start! July: Drone surveys to monitor seabird populations on the Caicos Bank Cays and main islands August: Seabird surveys wrap up as the birds leave for the hurricane season! Sept - Oct: Data processing tasks begin from the project's first field season Nov. - Dec: Surveys kick off for crevice-nesting seabirds (shearwaters, tropicbirds), arboreal seabirds (pelicans and frigatebirds) and cormorants on both the Caicos and Turks Banks!
2021
Jan - June: Ongoing analysis of frigatebird population data; seabird surveys undertaken on Montserrat and Cayman Islands July: Brown boobies tagged on Anguilla by ANT for approaching Marie Curie project on Sulids August: Seabird population surveys undertaken in the Turks and Caicos Islands with DECR and TCNT! Sept: Grant submitted for follow-on project in Turks and Caicos Islands to develop seabird monitoring programmes May: Project outputs publicised at WSTC7 ; Paper on foraging strategies of tropical boobies published in 'Movement Ecology' journal (see here) Oct: New project on foraging strategies of tropical and temperate boobies and gannets with Heriot-Watt University, UK and Deakin University, Australia Nov: Analysis of brown booby video / acoustic data from Cayman Islands begins; Regional seabird workshop held remotely Dec: Project partners present results of supporting activities at BirdsCaribbean's Seabird Fest event; Fieldwork in Cayman Islands with DoE during which both immature and adult frigatebirds were tagged
2020
March: Regional Seabird Workshop held in Anguilla, with participants from all 5 Caribbean UKOTs, Bermuda, BirdsCaribbean and UoL! Jan to Sept: Movement data continues to fly in from GSM-tagged fledgling magnificent frigatebirds from Anguilla and the Cayman Islands
2019
February: Magnificent frigatebird study based on data generated in 2017 published in the journal 'Marine Ecology Progress Series' (see article here) March - April: Adult magnificent frigatebirds tagged at populations on the Cayman Islands and Anguilla June - July: Fledgling magnificent frigatebirds tagged at populations on the Cayman Islands and Anguilla July: Team attended and presented at the BirdsCaribbean conference in Guadeloupe Aug - Dec: Data analysis and habitat modelling
2018
December: New Darwin Plus funding awarded to Dr Rhiannon Austin and Dr Jon Green at the University of Liverpool to study movement behaviour and population connectivity in magnificent frigatebirds at a regional scale in the Caribbean. Project partners include the DoE (Cayman Islands), Anguilla National Trust (Anguilla), the Jost van Dykes Preservation Society (British Virgin Islands), the Department of Environment and Coastal resources (Turks and Caicos) and BirdsCaribbean Sept:Project team presented results of tracking work at the International Bio-logging Conference, Liverpool (see website here) July - Sept: Species Conservation Plans drafted for important seabird populations under the National Conservation Law of the Cayman Islands April - June: Cayman Islands population survey data processed, data collection in colonies, DPLUS044 project comes to a close! Jan - May: Fieldwork and community meetings for DPLUS044, Cat eradication efforts begin on Little Cayman.
2016 - 2017
Cayman Islands: project activities for DPLUS044 (see www.caymanseabirds.weebly,com)
REPORTS AND MEDIA
Articles Article on booby foraging in the BirdsCaribbean Seabird Workshop Group Newsletter (click here) BirdsCaribbean blog interview with Dr Austin, June 2020 (click here) Darwin Plus Safeguarding Our Seas newsletter article, June 2020 (download here) UK’s Seabird Group newsletter article, June 2020 (click here) Cayman Islands Flickr magazine article 'Seabird project update', Sept.- Oct. 2017 (click here) Cayman Islands Flickr magazine article 'A survey of white-tailed tropicbirds on Cayman Brac', June-July 2017 (click here) Cayman Islands Flickr magazine article 'The Secret Lives of Seabirds', June-July 2016 (click to download)