New (long awaited) paper celebrations

Huge congrats to Adrift Lab alumni, Harrison Talarico, who completed his Honours thesis with us in 2021. Over the past three years we’ve been working away, converting Harrison’s thesis into a manuscript. It’s been a slow process because Harrison has secured wildlife conservation jobs in some truly remote and spectacular locations working with endangered Dotterels and Arnhem Rock Skinks. In his evenings and weekends (and when internet connection allowed), Harrison was lured back to his Honours data (on shearwaters – honestly, who could resist!) and this week was rewarded for his efforts. Here’s the take-home messages from his brilliant new paper:

Research question – How do you detect the moment seabirds return to their breeding colonies, especially when they’re nocturnal (i.e., active at night)?

Our findings – The study explored whether acoustic indices and passive listening stations (see photo) can be used to identify the post-migration return date for Short-tailed Shearwaters (muttonbirds) to their colonies in lutruwita/Tasmania. By analyzing changes in the soundscape (bird calls), we were able to detect arrival dates at most sites without relying on labor-intensive manual review. Thus, these methods offer a scalable, low-impact approach for long-term monitoring of seabird colonies.