Abstract
Seabirds are important marine predators that may be influenced by developments in marine renewable energy. To explore how seabirds might exploit novel floating structures at sea, an autonomous camera system was used to record attendance of seabirds on a Pelamis wave-energy device. Numbers and identities of seabirds on the machine were explored in relation to a set of metocean variables. Use of the machine was most affected by time of day, but less so by state of the tide. Birds did not use the machine during strong winds or when waves were large. Cameras can provide an effective, low-cost way to collect data about seabirds over weeks or months in inaccessible locations and under inclement metocean conditions.