Response of colonial Peruvian guano birds to flying UAVs: effects and feasibility for implementing new population monitoring methods.

Background: Drones are reliable tools for estimating colonial seabird numbers. Although most research has focused on methods of improving the accuracy of bird counts, few studies have evaluated the impacts of these methods on bird behavior. In this study, we examined the effects of the DJI Phantom 3 drone approach (altitude, horizontal and vertical descent speeds) on changes in the intensity of behavioral response of guano birds: guanay cormorants (), Peruvian boobies () and Peruvian pelicans ().