Variation in movements before and after departure from natal territories in a family living bird

This dataset contains movement metrics generated from radio tracking of Thamnophilus atrinucha (Black-crowned antshrikes, hereafter antshrike) at the Limbo plot (9° 9' 35" N, 79° 44' 36" W), located within Parque Nacional Soberanía in Central Panama. Fledgling antshrikes were fitted with transmitters prior to natal dispersal. We monitored movements using radio telemetry during two different stages, pre-departure from the natal territory (the pre-departure stage) and after departure from the natal territory (the floating stage). In the data we also include intrinsic (sex, days since departure, age at departure, offspring age) and extrinsic (fledge date, rainfall) factors associated with the movement behaviors. Rainfall metrics were generated using data provided by the Physical Monitoring Program of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute weather station located on Barro Colorado Island (Paton 2019, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute).

Methods
For a detailed description of the methods, please see the publication. In short, for both stages (pre-departure and floating), we radio-tracked an individual to its exact location (e.g., to a specific tree) and from those observations we generated four pre-departure stage and three floating stage movement metrics.

Pre-departure stage movement metrics include: (1) for each observation period, whether an individual bird left the natal territory or not, (2) for each foray, the maximum distance an individual traveled away from the center of the natal territory, (3) how much area an individual explored over a roughly two-week period, and (4) the total area explored by an individual over the duration of the entire tracking period.

Floating stage movement metrics include: (1) the distance traveled between observations periods, (2) how much area an individual explored over a roughly 17-day period, and (3) the total area explored by an individual over the duration of the entire tracking period.

References

Paton, Steve (2019). Barro Colorado Island, Clearing_Precipitation, manual. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Dataset.