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Group

Acoustics / Feed

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

discussion

High quality field deployable playback devices - acoustic and ultrasonic: do they exist?

Catherine Price

29 June 2024 6:34am

Hi - I'm new to the acoustic world and thought it wouldn't be too hard to find a playback device that I could use in the field to play both acoustic and ultrasonic frequencies at...

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Catherine Price

16 July 2024 12:18am

Thanks Akiba. We're interested in investigating sounds that attract predators at close ranges. Mainly from acoustic up to around 100kHz. Perhaps if you sent me your email I can discuss further?

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discussion

Questions for Biologists relating to system requirements in acoustic research

Morgan

6 July 2024 3:54am

I'm looking for more information about the specific needs in conservation biology and other fields that use acoustic monitoring for research. I've reviewed various discussions,...

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Morgan

21 July 2024 7:49pm

Hey @jamie_mac

These are FPODs from Chelonia was an exceptional read. I love the implementation and would have a great time developing systems like that. Very clever method for low power detection and would provide an ultra-fast turnaround for recording, where AI would take an entire detection window timescale to start recording. It does also make sense that marine environments would be an exceptionally difficult place for species detection.

I am interested in your idea of an OS marine ARU system. I have been doing a little research on marine acoustics and have a few ideas. This seems right up my alley. If you'd be interested in playing around with the idea and seeing if we can make something that works, I could likely make quick work with this

 

Jamie Macaulay

22 July 2024 8:19am

Hi Morgan.

We are actually at the very early stages of developing a new OS marine PAM device. This is a side project (read no funding currently) but if you're interested, I'd be happy to have a chat about what we are doing? 

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discussion

Is this nature imitating humans or the other way around?

Mike Sutton

10 July 2024 2:15pm

I am interested in sustainability in the violin and cello trade, particularly using locally sourced fallen trees rather than relying on endangered forest timber importations. In...

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Matthew Stanton

13 July 2024 2:01pm

Hi Mike,

You ask a great question and hopefully an expert on thrush vocalisations will be able to answer you more precisely than I can. However, what I can tell you is that many species of song birds are constantly evolving their calls for a whole range of reasons and while there are innate call characteristics for most species, there is usually a learnt component as well which can be mimicry or simply learning to sing from the available song around them. In Australia (and I believe elsewhere) we have some examples of threatened species with drastically reduced populations that have started to forget their own song because they simply do not have enough adult birds around them from whom to learn the song. They pick up the song of other abundant species which becomes problematic when it comes time for them to breed.

In many urbanised parts of the world, birds have changed their call to find an acoustic window not occupied by anthropogenic noise

So the questions I would start with are:
Do your British blackbirds have a shortage of example calls from their own species which might lead to them changing their call?
Are your blackbirds migrating and breeding  somewhere there were a shortage of teachers?
Is there that much Wolf Whistling still going on in Britain?

If blackbirds are doing as well in Britain as they are in their feral range, then I think a lack of available call teachers is unlikely. Other possibilities are that the individual has learnt a modified call because of a change in its acoustic environment, or it has emigrated (blown in) from somewhere that blackbirds have a different call dialect. Perhaps you could scour an online call library like Xeno-Canto to see if you can find a match for your local blackbird.

Mike Sutton

15 July 2024 11:00am

Many thanks. That is a useful place to start. I don't think there is any shortage of blackbirds in the UK. And they nest in our garden every year. I don't remember the last time I heard a human wolf whistle. I do hear quite a few house and car alarms and I have heard birds mimicking those. I suppose one remote possibility is that blackbirds have been nesting near a house with a tame and audible parrot or Mynah bird. Or that some wag has been constantly wolf whistling to a blackbird nest. I once taught my sister's budgie to quack and it used to do so bobbing its head manically up and down (so I can understand a bored child might do such a thing). When I was a child there was a free yet talking Magpie that seemed to delight in sitting on a garden wall and calling "hello" to the kids as they crossed the road. 

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discussion

Is it an issue to attach AudioMoths to Metal Towers?

Luke Quarles

15 June 2024 8:22am

Background: I am hoping to get some advice on mounting AudioMoth recorders (in waterproof cases). I am trying to collect acoustic data from slow lorises...

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Luke Quarles

19 June 2024 11:13am

There are two reasons I want to mount them on a couple towers (not all will go on towers). (1) It will be easier for our field assistants who are already heavily loaded with tasks to take them down and remount them over the year (replace batteries & microSD cards and reconfigure them b/c they are old firmware) that they are mounted. Plus there are already HOBO loggers mounted to the towers that makes it a quicker job. (2) It is an area of the park that the managers burn yearly in Jan and Feb and I want to have the AudioMoths mounted during the fires because it seems that the lorises stay in the area and I want to record vocalizations at that time.

Panji Gusti Akbar

14 July 2024 4:59am

Hi Luke,

As Matthew has suggested, the best way is always to run a test run whenever you are doing something new. Put your recorders out for one or two days and see how they perform.

My only concern about metal structures is that they can make some noises on windy days. I think Matthew's suggestion of using a sound barrier can help, but you may still notice the sound in the recording. However, this may not be a big concern for your project, as I assume the noise from the tower will be in much lower frequency than the lorises.

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discussion

Selling used ARU equipment?

Whitney Yoerger

9 July 2024 5:15pm

My organization has some Wildlife Acoustics SongMeter SM4 units that we’re looking to sell. We need more mobile and cost-effective ARUs for a new project. Do you know of a good...

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Link

One simple way ships can protect endangered whales and tackle climate change

Vanesa Reyes

8 July 2024 7:19pm

Discover the challenges marine animals face in busy shipping lanes—from the constant noise disrupting their habitats to the threat of ship collisions. Slowing down ships could offer a simple yet effective solution to protect these vulnerable species.

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discussion

Affordable acoustic monitors for "whispering" bats?

Chris Cosma

30 April 2024 8:31pm

Hi everyone,New here and new to bat acoustic monitoring. I'll be conducting a study where I'd like to acoustically monitor bats, including "whispering" (relatively quiet) bats...

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Phil Atkin

2 July 2024 6:29pm

Hi Chris - I missed this entire dialog, just to say I have successfully recorded all the"quiet" bats using pippyg / pippistrelle, but it inevitably turns into an SNR issue, and anything lower-cose always has worse SNR than more expensive kit. The upside - which is significant - is that you can deploy WAY more sensors per kilodollar spent, which gives you even better coverage than you think because if you deploy 20 and one fails, no big deal. Deploy 3 and one fails, your coverage is hammered. And at just £40 each for the pippyg static detectors from Smith Robotics, you can saturate an area with sensing / recording technology. 

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article

NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!

Consolata Gathoni Gitau

17 June 2024 11:33am

One of the most thrilling moments for any researcher is seeing their hard work published for the world to see. As part of the Women in Conservation Technology (WiCT) Kenya Cohort One, we not only learnt about the use of...

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Esther Githinji

17 June 2024 12:57pm

Congratulations Consolata!!! So exciting to read this :)
Sarah Maagi

17 June 2024 7:40pm

Many congratulation Consolata for such a milestone.
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discussion

VIHAR-2024 deadline extension, June 30th (Interspeech satellite event) 

Marius Miron

5 June 2024 10:30am

Dear Wildlabs community,The submission deadline for VIHAR-2024 has been extended to June 30th, 2024. VIHAR-2024 (https://vihar-2024.vihar.org) is the fourth international...

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Alex Rood

5 June 2024 3:05pm

Thanks for sharing this @nkundiushuti ! I think this post would be better suited as an event, that way it will show up on the WILDLABS event calendar page. Let me know if you have any questions on how to make an event post! You just click the +Post button in the top right corner, then click "event."

Marius Miron

7 June 2024 8:29am

hi Alex!! I already posted the event, I just wanted to posted an update: the deadline was extended. 

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article

New WILDLABS Funding & Finance group

Frank van der Most

5 June 2024 3:24pm

WildLabs will soon launch a 'Funding and Finance' group. What would be your wish list for such a group? Would you be interested in co-managing or otherwise helping out?

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Alex Rood

5 June 2024 4:14pm

This is great, Frank! @StephODonnell, maybe we can try to bring someone from #Superorganism (@tomquigley ?) or another venture company (#XPRIZE) into the fold!
Paul Edonga

6 June 2024 1:38am

I find the group to be dope, fundraising in the realm of conservation has been tough especially for emerging conservation leaders. There are no centralized grants tracking common...
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event

Bioacoustics and AI 101

Vanesa Reyes

29 May 2024 2:21pm

Recent developments in AI have not only led to dramatic increase in accuracy of detecting/classifying sounds, but have simultaneously made these tools accessible for people with little to no prior knowledge of AI. This...

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event

5th World Ecoacoustics Congress

Vanesa Reyes

28 May 2024 8:07pm

In 2024, the 5th WEC, which will be held from 8th to 12th July in Madrid, will aim to bring together cutting-edge researchers and the international scientific community around this emerging field. During five days, we...

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discussion

Mounting Electret Microphone

Jesse Turner

20 May 2024 6:20pm

Hi all,I'm curious to hear experiences/thoughts on mounting microphones in potted instrument housings that will receive a fair amount of movement and vibration. This is for an...

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Johnathan

24 May 2024 6:03pm

If you search Digikey for a 'strain relief' you should be able to find a rubber grommet that will hold that mic without any additional machining. A blob of silicone will adhesive and  waterproof, I always like stuff to do at least two things. It's also vibration reducing on the mic. You may want to either 'shotgun' mic by putting it at the end of a tube, that will block a lot of ambient also. Unless it whistles like a bottle in the wind, that might be a problem later lol. Or use a dish as a focus. 

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discussion

Uploading External Recordings for Templates?

Cortney Dean

23 May 2024 4:52pm

Hi All!I'm still pretty new to Arbimon so I'm hoping to get some help from some more experienced folks.I'm researching avian and bat biodiversity impacts (among other things) of...

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Carly Batist

23 May 2024 9:15pm

Hi Cortney! 

I'm Carly, the Science Outreach Lead at Arbimon :) 

I wanted to just point out that we have support docs and help pages at help.arbimon.org and also a link to contact us directly for help! 

Regarding the error you're getting with the upload, it's probably easiest to switch over to email so I can get more information on the project and look into it on the backend. I would also recommend using the Uploader App rather than the web uploader, if you're not already. 

But your idea is correct, we have many users who import renamed Xeno-Canto files to Arbimon to use as templates! 

What's your email? We can continue the convo to get you set up!

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Link

Audiomoth Group Order!

Carly Batist

23 May 2024 10:00pm

GroupGets has a new group purchase for Audiomoths!

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discussion

Audiomoth Energy consuption estimates

Hubert Szczygiel

4 March 2024 12:25pm

Hi All,I'm conducting a biodiversity survey that includes a grid of audiomoths. I have 53 deployed, with the following schedule: 15 seconds every minute, 4:00-12:00, and 16:00-24:...

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Tabitha Olsen

16 May 2024 9:34pm

We had this same issue, and found that the firmware version 1.9.2 was our issue. We bumped it back to 1.9.0 and our energy consumption was back to normal. 

We record data for 7 hours a day (3.5 hour blocks), using sandisk extreme 64GB micro SD cards. We don’t use re-chargeable batteries, and the ARUs are set for 14-day periods before being collected. With the 1.9.2 firmware, for some reason they’d only record for maybe 9 days tops before dying. At firmware 1.9.0, we were back to our normal recording of minimum 14 days (although they often last longer). We tried different batteries, different energy saving settings, nothing worked besides bumping the firmware down. This issue was in both our brand new AudioMoths and 2-year old AudioMoths. 
 

I hope this helps. 
 

Alex Rogers

19 May 2024 11:27am

Hi Tabitha, What recording settings were you using when you saw these differences? I've measured the consumption across some different firmware versions and I can't see any difference. Were these AudioMoth 1.2.0 devices? Alex

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