Data supporting manuscript "Satellite telemetry informs nesting ecology and management of nomadic ibis and spoonbills (Threskiornithidae) in remote breeding sites" in Ornithological Applications.

The data and files in these directories underpin analyses of telemetry data for three Australian waterbird species during nesting periods. These species are frequently targeted for adaptive water and wetland management to support successful breeding events and can be bioindicators of wetland change. However, obtaining on-ground nesting data for highly mobile species in remote or difficult to access sites is challenging.

To solve this problem, we used GPS satellite telemetry to track nesting events for three species that frequently nest together in remote wetlands managed with environmental water: Threskiornis spinicollis (Straw-necked Ibis), T. molucca (Australian White Ibis) and Platalea regia (Royal Spoonbill). This is the first time that satellite telemetry for these highly mobile species has been used to analyse a) nest stages and nest attendance patterns; b) distances travelled to forage during nesting; and c) timing and duration of nesting events. We found both intra- and inter-species variation in nest attendance patterns and foraging distances

This research is led by CSIRO as part of the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder's Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Program (Flow-MER). It builds on and incorporates satellite tracking of straw-necked ibis, Australian white ibis and royal spoonbills conducted by CSIRO between 2016–19 as part of the Environmental Water Knowledge and Research (EWKR) Waterbird Theme. The EWKR research identified a need for additional satellite tracking of species dependent on water to feed (such as spoonbills and egrets), not just to breed (such as ibis), and for tracking of the movements of birds from additional important sites across the Basin.

The dataset in this collection consists of supporting code and files for the manuscript "Satellite telemetry informs nesting ecology and management of nomadic ibis and spoonbills (Threskiornithidae) in remote breeding sites". The dataset contains processed data, R programming scripts to perform the main analyses and summaries for the manuscript and extended graphical summaries.