Finding and monitoring nests are key components of avian research, but they are often expensive, time‐consuming, and inefficient operations. This is certainly true for diving ducks that nest in wetlands with thick emergent vegetation where nests are typically located by teams of technicians that wade through a marsh and beat vegetation with sticks, hoping to flush incubating females or encounter nests without a female present. Taking advantage of recent advances in both unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and thermal‐imaging cameras, our objectives were to (1) compare our ability to locate duck nests using a UAV and using traditional on‐foot searching methods, and (2) determine if nests monitored remotely with the UAV had different survival rates than nests monitored with traditional nest‐site visits. We searched for nests with a UAV system in southern Manitoba during the springs of 2018 and 2019. Using the UAV, we located 48 nests not found by ground crews, ground crews found 164 nests not found with the UAV, and 71 nests were found using both methods. Overall, nests were less likely to be detected with the UAV (0.34) than by ground crews (0.71), but surveys were completed approximately four times faster with the UAV. Detectability of nests varied among duck species (range = 0.55–0.04). We found no difference in nest survival between nests monitored with the UAV (0.95) and those repeatedly visited by ground crews (0.95). However, in 2018, ground monitoring resulted in 19 nests being abandoned by females, compared to only one monitored with the UAV. Our results demonstrate that UAVs equipped with thermal cameras can be used to find nests of ducks located over water, with greater success for species that nest earlier and those whose nests are not buried under matted vegetation. Furthermore, monitoring nests with the UAV resulted in lower rates of nest abandonment, and survival of nests monitored with the UAV was similar to that of nests monitored using traditional methods. Additional species‐ and habitat‐specific studies are needed to fully understand the utility and challenges associated with using UAVs equipped with thermal imaging to survey species of wetland wildlife.

中文翻译：

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无人机和热像仪在研究鸭子在水面上筑巢的应用

查找和监视巢是鸟类研究的关键组成部分，但它们通常是昂贵，费时且效率低下的操作。对于潜水鸭来说，这确实是正确的，这些潜水鸭筑巢在茂密的植被茂密的湿地中，巢穴通常是由技术人员在沼泽中跋涉并用木棍打败植被，希望冲洗雌性孵化场或遇到没有雌性存在的巢的技术人员。利用无人飞行器（UAV）和热成像相机的最新进展，我们的目标是（1）比较我们使用无人飞行器和传统的徒步搜索方法定位鸭巢的能力，以及（2）确定如果使用无人机进行远程监控的鸟巢的生存率与使用传统鸟巢实地考察的鸟巢的生存率不同。我们在2018年和2019年春季在马尼托巴省南部使用无人机系统搜索了巢。使用无人机，我们找到了地勤人员找不到的48个巢，地勤人员发现了UAV找不到的164个巢，而使用无人机发现了71个巢两种方法。总体而言，与地面人员（0.71）相比，无人机（0.34）探测到巢的可能性较小，但使用无人机完成调查的速度大约快四倍。鸭的巢之间的可检测性各不相同（范围= 0.55-0.04）。我们发现，用无人机监控的巢（0.95）和地面人员反复拜访的巢（0.95）之间的巢生存率没有差异。然而，在2018年，地面监视导致19只雌鸟被遗弃，而无人机只监视了一个。我们的结果表明，配备有热像仪的无人机可以用于寻找位于水面上的鸭子的巢，对于早期筑巢的物种以及那些巢未埋在杂草丛生的物种而言，这种做法取得了更大的成功。此外，用无人飞行器监视巢穴会降低鸟巢的遗弃率，而用无人飞行器监视的巢穴的存活率类似于使用传统方法监视的巢穴的存活率。还需要进行其他针对物种和栖息地的研究，以充分了解使用配备有热成像技术的无人机来调查湿地野生动植物物种的实用性和挑战。无人机监视的巢的存活率与传统方法监视的巢的存活率相似。需要进行其他针对物种和栖息地的研究，以充分了解使用配备有热成像技术的无人机来调查湿地野生动植物物种的实用性和挑战。无人机监视的巢的存活率与传统方法监视的巢的存活率相似。需要进行其他针对物种和栖息地的研究，以充分了解使用配备有热成像技术的无人机来调查湿地野生动植物物种的实用性和挑战。