Drones provide birdsong researchers with flying ears

Bioacoustic recording devices – technology that records the sounds of living creatures –can help fill in some of the gaps for ecologists surveying bird populations, particularly when it comes to species that like to stay hidden. Better yet might be bioacoustic recording devices that dangle from drones, according to a new study designed to test the feasibility of this creative approach to conservation.

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They need to work on making drones quiet for bird research.

Tau.Neutrino said:

They need to work on making drones quiet for bird research.

If the birds could speak our language they’d probably be saying FO out of our lives.

roughbarked said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

They need to work on making drones quiet for bird research.

If the birds could speak our language they’d probably be saying FO out of our lives.

Some of them would be saying, “yeah nah don’t throw us a chip ya scungey crub”

dv said:

roughbarked said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

They need to work on making drones quiet for bird research.

If the birds could speak our language they’d probably be saying FO out of our lives.

Some of them would be saying, “yeah nah don’t throw us a chip ya scungey crub”

They’d be the silver gulls.

roughbarked said:

dv said:

roughbarked said:

If the birds could speak our language they’d probably be saying FO out of our lives.

Some of them would be saying, “yeah nah don’t throw us a chip ya scungey crub”

They’d be the silver gulls.

silver gulls and golden eagles will not sing a tune sublime.

roughbarked said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

They need to work on making drones quiet for bird research.

If the birds could speak our language they’d probably be saying FO out of our lives.

Yes and yes.

Though they could also be saying “feed me”.

Getting good quality birdsong requires good quality sound recording equipment (which is expensive and heavy) and a really quiet background in low wind conditions.

And it also requires the dedication to spend lots of time tracking down these bird calls and quiet backgrounds. Even our best Australian bird recordings by Graham Chapman are done mostly in Qld, and extremely rarely in Victoria. And bird calls vary a great amount by location and well as year.

I don’t see drones helping out much with any of this, especially given their limited battery life.

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

They need to work on making drones quiet for bird research.

If the birds could speak our language they’d probably be saying FO out of our lives.

Yes and yes.

Though they could also be saying “feed me”.

Getting good quality birdsong requires good quality sound recording equipment (which is expensive and heavy) and a really quiet background in low wind conditions.

And it also requires the dedication to spend lots of time tracking down these bird calls and quiet backgrounds. Even our best Australian bird recordings by Graham Chapman are done mostly in Qld, and extremely rarely in Victoria. And bird calls vary a great amount by location and well as year.

I don’t see drones helping out much with any of this, especially given their limited battery life.

I do tend to agree. Very few bird recordings are background noise free and in many cases the bird call desired is actually background to the main noises recorded.

If we want to record bird calls in the wild on the wing, why not attach devices to the birds themselves?

roughbarked said:

If we want to record bird calls in the wild on the wing, why not attach devices to the birds themselves?

That’s a good point. I like it, it should be done. It wouldn’t be easy for several reasons.