Movement data for the Colony Island Network Design and Implementation (CINDI) Project to recover waterbirds in the Gulf of Mexico: Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia), 2024

The waterbird population of the Gulf Coast of Texas relies on 300 natural and constructed colony islands to support the population, but the limited funds that are dedicated to island rehabilitation cannot be used to restore all islands. Managers must prioritize islands that provide the greatest benefit to waterbirds, but the prioritization process is challenging without a tool to guide their decisions. Therefore, we developed a data-driven prioritization tool that incorporates bio-geo-physical constraints on nesting as part of a pilot study. To achieve this, we collected data on island traits, foraging habitat, and landscape characteristics that influence waterbird breeding productivity. This dataset contains point locations and other associated data from GPS transmitters (Ornitrack 9, 10, or 15) that were attached to 10 nesting Caspian Terns (Hydroprogne caspia) to assess foraging ranges around colonies on the mid- and lower coast of Texas during the 2024 breeding season from 2024-01-01 to 2024-09-30. This dataset is a result of research funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's RESTORE Science Program (ROR - https://ror.org/0042xzm63) under award NA23NOS4510306 to Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi.

The suite of related datasets include tracking for Black Skimmers (2019-2023: HI.x960.000:0003, https://doi.org/10.7266/7kxf3hqd), Caspian Terns (2022-2023: HI.x960.000:0004, https://doi.org/10.7266/gqtgaw3g; 2024: HI.x960.000:0008, https://doi.org/10.7266/jvpaa0ys), Tricolored Herons (2023: HI.x960.000:0005, https://doi.org/10.7266/3y4qnaax; 2024: HI.x960.000:0006, https://doi.org/10.7266/pr3pj20d), and Great Egrets (2023: HI.x960.000:0002, https://doi.org/10.7266/manamsa7; 2024: HI.x960.000:0009, https://doi.org/10.7266/8gpn11g2).