Raw data set of pigeon body mass measurements

1. Animal-borne logging devices are now commonly used to record and
monitor the movements, physiology and behaviours of free-living animals.
It is imperative that the impacts these devices have on the animals
themselves is minimised. 2. One important consideration is the interaction
between the body mass of the animal, and the mass of the device. 3. Using
captive homing pigeons, we demonstrate that birds lose the equivalent
amount of body mass compared to that of the logging device attached. With
our experiments, we calculated that the compensatory mass loss because of
the logging device equates to a total loss of 1,140 kJ of energy to the
bird, over the 25-day period. This equates to 32% per day of their total
daily energy budget. 4. We suggest that practitioners of
biologging give due consideration to the possibility of a
device-induced decrease in body mass when making decisions regarding
device size, and when considering the period of the time of the year at
which devices are attached. 5. It appears, based on the results of the
present study, that device attachment is likely to be most disruptive
during periods of regulated mass change, especially when periods of mass
gain precede periods in which stored energy reserves are extensively
utilised. 6. These findings have significant consequences for anyone using
biologging technology on both wild and captive volant animals. Further
studies utilising captive birds are now needed to fully understand how
context- and species-dependent physiological responses to externally
attached devices are.