A method for color-marking birds at resting sites

A remote marking device and newly developed permanent dyes for Wildlife research

“…Previous devices that squirted dye were not suitable for targeting individuals because of inaccurate dye application (e.g., broad‐swath sprinklers or throwing dye‐filled objects at birds), or faults in the equipment (e.g., cumbersome equipment with disturbance issues, or by low pressure at the output; Moffitt , Tickell , Moseley and Mueller , Wendeln et al ). Passive methods such as dyeing eggs or placing dye in front of or in nests potentially jeopardizes live eggs (Mossman , Paton and Pank , Cavanagh et al , Belant and Seamans , Donehower and Bird ). Donehower and Bird () state likewise that the technique of self‐marking by birds where dye is placed in the nest is not good because the pattern of dye is more random and individuals cannot be marked at a targeted part of their bodies.…”

“…Passive methods such as dyeing eggs or placing dye in front of or in nests potentially jeopardizes live eggs (Mossman , Paton and Pank , Cavanagh et al , Belant and Seamans , Donehower and Bird ). Donehower and Bird () state likewise that the technique of self‐marking by birds where dye is placed in the nest is not good because the pattern of dye is more random and individuals cannot be marked at a targeted part of their bodies. The same is true for techniques such as paintball land mines Fox () and eggshells or light bulbs thrown at birds (Bendell and Fowle ).…”

“…Our research on subcolony‐specific foraging behavior needed a long‐lasting, highly visible marker because of the difficulty of identifying bands or tags on terns at a distance of >30 m from a survey boat, as well as discerning tagged individuals via telemetry signals, often lost in background electronic noise. We needed marks visible from distance and lasting 2–3 months with no need to remark, and subsequently chose to use dyes because they are an easy and potentially noninvasive way to mark animals (Murray and Fuller ) and have been used with varying success on feathers (Marion and Shamis , Calvo and Furness , Donehower and Bird ) or fur (Keith et al , Evans and Griffith , Twigg ).…”

“…These methods have negative side effects such as toxicity, dyeing nontarget species, or disturbing the colony. We reviewed indirect marking methods to find remote methods of dyeing that satisfied conditions of speed, ease, lack of handling, and nondisturbance to the colony (Marion and Shamis , Donehower and Bird ; summary of hands‐off dyeing methods in Text S1 and Table S1‐1, available online in Supporting Information).…”

Longevity of DayGlo fluorescent particle marker used to mark birds in flight pen and field

“…Neck collars and patagial tags can be read without recapture, while numbered leg bands and leg tags typically require recapture. Techniques that allow identification of marked birds out of a group include coloured leg bands and flags (Balham and Elder 1953;Hill 1992;Watt 2001;Regehr and Rodway 2003) and temporary dyes (Wadkins 1948;Moseley and Mueller 1975;Wendeln et al 1996;Donehower and Bird 2005). Through single or multiple bird captures, these marking methods enable the investigation of movements of marked individuals.…”