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Acoustic monitoring is one of our biggest and most active groups, with members collecting, analysing, and interpreting acoustic data from across species, ecosystems, and applications, from animal vocalizations to sounds from our natural and built environment

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Looking for bird and bat audio datasets and related research for biodiversity AI project

Hi everyone,I'm working on a project funded by the PNRR and selected by NBFC, focused on tracking biodiversity in Italy, with potential expansion to other countries. The goal is...

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discussion

Thesis Collaboration

Hello everyone, I am an experienced Data Scientist and I am currently studying a second master in Environment Management (ULB - Belgium). I am currently looking for a master...

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Hi Simon,
Did you already contact INBO? Both biologging and citizen science are big themes at INBO. Last year we had a master thesis on camera trapping invasive muntjac. You can send me a private message for more info!

Hi Simon,

We're a biologging start-up based in Antwerp and are definitely open to collaborate if you're interested. We've got some programs going on with local zoo's. Feel free to send me a DM if you'd like to know more.

Hi Simon,
We (Reneco International Wildlife Consultants) have an ongoing collaboration with a local University (Abu Dhabi, UAE)  for developing AI tools (cameratrap/drone images and video analyses) and biomimetic robots applied to conservation (e.g  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1574954124004813 ). We also have a genetic team working on eDNA.    Field experience could be possible, in UAE or Morocco.
Feel free to write me back if you may be interested and would like to know more
 

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discussion

Joint ecoacoustic & camera-trapping project in Indonesia!

WildMon is super excited to be partnering with Planet Indonesia on a wildlife monitoring project combining bioacoustics and camera trapping in Kalimantan, Indonesia! In combining...

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Hello Carly, 

Congratulations for this project!

I am studying right now a second MA in Environment Management. I would like to do my MA thesis project about these technologies (bioacoustics and camera traps). I wonder if you would be interested in a collaboration with me on that ? 

I already have a professional experience so I think that my contribution could be interesting for you. 

Thank you in advance for answering, 

Simon

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discussion

Use of acoustics to combat wildlife crime // Uso de acústica para combatir delitos contra la vida silvestre

Hi everyone,I’m looking for information on projects or research papers that use acoustic technology to combat wildlife crime, such as anti-poaching efforts, illegal logging, or...

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Hola Vanessa,

Aside from whats already commented, did you find any interesting new leads on this? I'm also interested in ways ecoacoustic tech can be used against wildlife crime, both as in research development, but even more so in its short or long-term applications and how it can be truly adopted in source countries.
It seems to me research or work in this is still limited but there's potential! I'd love to stay in touch about it :)

Hey Xiona,


I see that you are from a university that is very close to where I live. I have a platform that is well suited for combating wildlife crime and I perceive that it’s rather a small step to go from where I am to where you guys are all asking for. I suspect the piece I’m missing could be generated pretty easily with AI.


Would you be interested in having a chat about this ? Perhaps we can embark on a project ?


Kim from near Sittard,

The Netherlands

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discussion

Camera trap triggered by loud noise coming from inside a nest box

 We are starting to monitor nest boxes located in far away remote locations without 5G, we wanted to place a CT but with the hatchlings movement will take up too much space...

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Well, I have an audio recording project (https://github.com/hcfman/sbts-aru), that records potentially with highly accurate clock if you want to do sound localization, but you can use it to both record sounds and process an audio pipeline at the same time. And I have an AI object detector and video alerting project that handles input and output I/O as well. But it has a flexible state machine build in. It doesn't have to trigger with video, it's trivial to make it trigger from anything else. Such as the audio reaching a certain level, or even an audio pipeline recognising a certain sound. It's just a rest http call to the state machine, then it can capture video frames, with pre-capture if needed as well.

It draws a lot of power though. But I haven't tested the power usage when not running with anb object detector though. The lowest power Pi it can run on is a Raspberry Pi 4.

I have intentions to combine the two of these projects at some point to make something that can trigger on both object detection and also audio detection. When I get time... which is the only barrier. Bit it's not my highest prio right now.

It would definately need solar panels though to make it run for a long time. But in principle it would likely not be very hard to tweak it to trigger on sound. If this becomes a really must have bit of functionality, you could reach out to me directly. But it might be a couple of months before I could put any time into something like this.

I know that various people are interested in things like detecting chainsaw sounds. This could do that sort of thing with the right pipeline, but I haven't even started to play with audio analysis pipelines yet.

That's great, we are in no hurry since this would be for next year's reproduction season. We would also be interested in the Ai that you mention if it's able to detect big size birds (working with the southern ground hornbill). That way the camera would trigger whenever the parents enter the nestbox. I asked a little bit and solar panels shouldn't be an issue. But to explain it in a more detailed way (exactly what will be need it, which camereas can be paired with the program, anything else relevant, etc) maybe we could keep the conversation through email: quimagell@hotmail.com

Im trying to explain everything to my bosses and would be great to know exactly what will be needed besaides solar panels and the camera (since this kind of technology is really new we might need some clear instructions and guidance, my knowlodge extens to CT and solar panels to power survillance cameras at nests but that would be it..). Thanks so much before hand!

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discussion

Birdweather Puc use as a passive sensor

We were recently donated Birdweather Pucs for monitoring birds on the reserve. These devices have worked exceptionally well as active sensors when placed in locations with 2.4 GHz...

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Checking the Birdweather FAQ, I guess you need to be more detailed on the setup description. For example, if you use a powerbank to power the PUC that is NOT ALWAYS-ON, it may swich-off after some time. So details of your setup may matter.

Caveat, I do not have a PUC, but tried to understand you problem.

Thanks for the advice Wade!

It will be great to hear Tim's feedback, but thanks for your advice! I think Lithium batteries are the next step for us. I have successfully gotten it working with a power bank attached, but that really impedes its portability. Will also fiddle around with the GPS per your recommendations...

 

Hello Walter

Thanks for your input. I have achieved better results with the puc when hooking it up to a powerbank. Have got them set up to "recording only", and GPS to low power mode. Looking to now try eliminating the need for a power bank as that impairs the portability of the puc.

 

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discussion

¿Conoces colecciones de sonidos de la biodiversidad en América Latina? / Você conhece coleções de sons da biodiversidade na América Latina?

Las colecciones digitales de sonidos de la biodiversidad son recursos fundamentales que muchas veces pasan desapercibidos, y es crucial visibilizarlas. Por eso, me gustaría que...

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He compilado esta lista de bibliotecas de referencia acústica!

I've compiled this list of acoustic reference libraries! 

Carly!

Está fantástica la lista. Me gusta la idea de diferenciar las colecciones de sonido y los conjuntos de dato para machine learning

Acá comparto información sobre nuestra colección de sonidos ambientales:

Este recurso de BioacousticsIA me pareció particularmente interesante ya que está público, tiene una clara estrategia para mantenerlo al día y está diseñado para incluir muchos detalles sobre los conjuntos de grabaciones.

Muchas gracias! :D

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discussion

Insect call library

Hi all, Does anyone have experience building an acoustic library for insect sounds? I'm interested to know if there are protocols for how best to record captive insects (...

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Hi Iqbal,

Xeno-canto has expanded the taxonomic scope and now has some insect calls there. There are a few insect-focused libraries listed on this compilation of bioacoustic reference libraries too. I believe there are aquatic invertebrates being added to the Freshwater Sounds Archive as well (led by @JackGreenhalgh). Ed Baker from NHM would be a good person to talk to - he's done a ton of work on insect bioacoustics.

Hope that helps a bit!

-Carly

Hi Carly,

 

I've found and made use of Xeno-canto's libraries in the past, but for the current project plan to actually build a library myself. Thanks for the pointer to Ed Baker, I'll definitely follow up on it.

 

Cheers,

Iqbal

Hi Iqbal,

I'm sure you could get some good feedback on this from XC users on this, particularly on the subject of protocols, recording settings, etc. So maybe a nice idea to post it on the forum there. 

cheers,
Bob
Xeno-canto.org

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discussion

unsupervised machine learning to infer syntax and temporal organisations of animal vocalizations

I wish to share an update on my MSc thesis project, that contributes to the field of decoding animal communication. In my work I conducted a factorial experiment  to...

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Super interesting work! Maybe one day you will also be able to have a career as a science fiction writer. Lot of interesting outcomes can come of this. ❤️

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discussion

New model for Europe - AvesEcho

Hi there,did anyone already compare results between AvesEcho v1 and BirdNET?This European model is now used on mystery call in xeno-canto. It´s based on BirdNETbut with specific...

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My first test with known samples resulted in mixed results.

No one else looking into the model?

Greetings,
Robin

It's still a bit early days. For nocturnal flight calls (which are the majority of the mysteries) the recordings are generally of poor quality and the model doesn't find anything (according to the tresholds we have set). We are running the model in the background on focal recordings from Europe as well, and there performance is pretty good. As we are not runnign BirdNET alongside AvesEcho, I cannot say at this stage which one is better, but my expectation is that AvesEcho should be an improvement, as it is based on BirdNET and is then further trained with more focal recordings. But time will tell if that is indeed the case!

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discussion

Winterproofing SongMeters

Hi all! Longtime ARU practitioner here, but new poster to Wildlabs. I am working with some collaborators in northern CA who would like to expand their ARU monitoring into the...

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Thanks, Troy! Makes sense. Average winter lows where we'll be deploying are right around freezing-- perhaps a few days that dip into the 20*F range, but not many. Definitely colder than is ideal for alkalines... but maybe Energizer Ultimate Lithium AAs would get them through?

My collaborators are hoping to monitor through the cold season for multiple years, so if they end up purchasing new units for this project specifically, I will steer them towards OwlSense units! We've been super happy with them at IBP.

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careers

Arctic Acoustic Technician

WCS iseeking candidates for an acoustic technician position to support the Western Arctic Program’s ongoing work using passive acoustic monitoring to study marine mammals, fish, and underwater noise in the Canadian...

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discussion

Help us test PAMGuard for macOS

Hi WILDLABSWe have been working on a macOS version of PAMGuard and it would be great if some folk here in the community would like to give it a spin before it's released. ...

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discussion

Owl Sense Audio Recorders

Hello everyone!I'm the founder of a small company called Owl Sense.  We've recently launched a low cost, yet high performing, long running wildlife audio recorder.  Our...

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Nice to see you mention the primo EM172 mic capsules. Those are the ones that I use with my pi based recorder. They are the gold standard I think.  But no mems microphone is going to be able to reach that same quality I think. At least none that I’ve seen.


Sounds like your made a mighty fine product.

Thanks Kim.  Primo makes some good microphones and undeniably they are going to be better than any MEMS microphone.  I do think folks underestimate what MEMS can do these days.  Infineon really did some remarkable work with their IM73D122 microphone.  It's significantly better than what's in an AudioMoth and even though its rated at the same SNR of a WA Micro, it subjectively sounds much better to me and others I've talked to.  I'm excited to see what Infineon launches next, they've been leading the way with MEMS mics the last few years.  Fortunately, Owl Sense is designed with a separate microphone board with the goal of offering better user-replaceable microphones when they are available!

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