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Data describing the effect of transmitter attachment on the return rate of adult and juvenile Common Terns to a breeding colony

July 21, 2026

Previous efforts conducted during the breeding season of 2021 affixed two types of light-weight transmitters to adult and pre-fledgling juvenile Common Terns with leg-loop harnesses made of elastic cord. Subsequent observations of marked birds detected minimal differences in the behavior and nesting success of marked adults, nor were any notable impacts on the growth rate or behavior of marked juveniles. However, these comparisons were limited by only a single year of data on the return and nesting rate of marked adults and no comparable data for juveniles. To provide further insight into the potential effects of the described tagging methods we evaluated the return and nesting rates of birds marked as adults and juveniles in 2021 for the 2022 through 2025 breeding seasons.

Publication Year 2026
Title Data describing the effect of transmitter attachment on the return rate of adult and juvenile Common Terns to a breeding colony
DOI 10.5066/P1WQSXUG
Authors Jeffery D Sullivan, Jeffrey A Spendelow, Samuel (Contractor) J Denenberg, David F. Brinker, Peter C. McGowan, Carl Callahan, Amy O'Donnell, John G Crockett, Diann J Prosser
Product Type Data Release
Record Source USGS Asset Identifier Service (AIS)
USGS Organization Eastern Ecological Science Center at the Leetown Research Laboratory
Rights This work is marked with CC0 1.0 Universal
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