Being trapped is a potentially stressful experience, especially for breeding birds, so capture should be limited to target individuals and be as least harmful as possible. We describe here a modified leg-noose trap that we developed for the burrow nesting Crab-plover (Dromas ardeola). Similar to other commonly used devices, it consists of monofilament fishing line nooses secured to a heavy metal base. We modified this traditional device by positioning the nooses perpendicular to the bird movement and by adding shock-absorbing elastic bands. This last addition proved effective in protecting the captured bird's legs from superficial wounds and abrasions; it did not affect capture success relative to a version of the same trap lacking these improvements. Such improvements could be applied to similar noose traps employed for other birds in order to reduce discomfort and avoid injury.
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1 June 2015
A Modified Leg-noose Trap for Crab-plovers (Dromas ardeola) at Burrow Nests
Giorgio Chiozzi,
Giuseppe De Marchi,
Mauro Fasola
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The Wilson Journal of Ornithology
Vol. 127 • No. 2
June 2015
Vol. 127 • No. 2
June 2015
burrow nesting
Crab Plover
Dromas ardeola
noose trap
trapping techniques