Many articles especially those migration researches concerned about the accuracy of tracking data points. But I did not found out an accepted standard that to distinguish the behavior of birds from speed and amount of exercise of tracking information.
Maybe it just because I am not read enough literature. But is there anyone could tell me that if those tracking data points with speed data less than 5 km/h or 8 km/h can indicate that birds in these locations are wandering or stay? And what's the widely accepted numerical value, or different bird has different value?
Seeking answers or relevant literature. Thank you very much.
Location accuracy is usually reported and measured by HDOP, PDOP or Location Class, depending on different tracking system. GPS transmitters provide quite accurate locations, usually with about 10 m error. If your tracking system provides information on speed and exercise, behavior identification is possible. I don't know whether there is a standard threshold of speed to define behavior such as flight or rest, but possibly no such threshold for walking since it varies according to bird size. I think you can define it for your species yourself. However, the amount of exercise, which is a measurement of the total number of steps during the duration since the last locatition, is very useful to determine walking for hourly data, since this value is very low in flight and rest.
Recently, gyroscope can be implanted in transmitter and provide three-dimension angles of each instantaneous behavior. This kind of PTT may be good choice for you.
This is a topic that has been dealt with extensively in the marine mammal tracking community. I suggest you take a look into this literature, especially the use of hidden Markov models to separate measurement error (ARGOS uncetainty) and behaviour. Look for papers out of St.Andrews University (SMRU and CREEM).
If I understand your question correctly, you are interested in using satellite telemetry to learn about the behavior of birds -- for example, whether they are migrating or staying in one location at a particular time. One approach that has been used for this kind of work involves state-space models. You can look at some of the references below to get a sense of whether this approach might be suitable for what you are studying.
Patterson, T. A., Thomas, L., Wilcox, C., Ovaskainen, O., & Matthiopoulos, J. (2008). State–space models of individual animal movement. Trends in ecology & evolution, 23(2), 87-94.
Forester, J. D., Ives, A. R., Turner, M. G., Anderson, D. P., Fortin, D., Beyer, H. L., ... & Boyce, M. S. (2007). State–space models link elk movement patterns to landscape characteristics in Yellowstone National Park. Ecological Monographs, 77(2), 285-299.
Bailey, H., Shillinger, G., Palacios, D., Bograd, S., Spotila, J., Paladino, F., & Block, B. (2008). Identifying and comparing phases of movement by leatherback turtles using state-space models. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 356(1-2), 128-135.
Each species is different in terms of its behavior. For example, some animals range widely in the course of a normal week even if they are not migrating, while others stay in a very limited area. Thus, it is important to become familiar with the normal behavioral patterns for the animals that you study, in order to make accurate inferences about behavior from telemetry tracks. I hope this information is helpful.
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