The Backyard Birdman

Since we were talking about “Birding by Ear”  I thought you might be interested in this article from Science Daily on a new technology to facilitate bird population surveys.  I think you will find it quite interesting.

Chaffinch photo by Andrew Howe

ScienceDaily (July 28, 2008) — Switch on the mike, start the recording, the stage is set for the local fauna! 

Computer scientists from the University of Bonn, in conjunction with the birdsong archives of Berlin’s Humboldt University, have developed a kind of ‘Big Brother’ for birds. This has nothing to do with entertainment, but a lot to do with the protection of nature. The new type of voice detector involved can reliably recognise the characteristic birdsong of different species of birds, thereby facilitating surveys of the bird population.

Europe’s forests are falling silent as countless species of birds go on the red list of endangered species. Yet in fact no-one can say what the exact position is with some species. So as to have a reliable count of the territories of indigenous birds it would practically be necessary to send out a whole horde of spare-time ornithologists to count the birds.     (more…)