Nesting waterbird colony population size...
URL: https://www.mdba.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/nesting-waterbird-colony-population-size-monitoring-using-automated-counts-on-drone-imagery.pdf
Authors: Ramesh Raja Segaran, Dillon Campbell, Molly Ellis Hennekam, Marnie Denlay, The University of Adelaide
Date of Publication: June 2022
To help assess the success of water management initiatives there is need to accurately and routinely monitor waterbird numbers and breeding events.
There is a lack of systematic continuous surveys of breeding, making Basin-wide analysis and trend analysis difficult.
This project developed and demonstrated a tool to count colonially nesting waterbirds (Straw-necked Ibis) automatically using off-the-shelf drones and cameras.
Key findings/ recommendations
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The trained detector model outputs demonstrate the capacity for the tool to detect individual Straw-necked Ibis in the drone images with a high level of accuracy compared to those manually identified by a person.
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The workflow developed to image and detect Straw-necked Ibis at Mullins Swamp yielded promising results due to careful consideration of methods for image capture, species and habitat selection and the development of the automated detection software and model.
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The imaging and model training guidelines outline key workflow considerations for future projects.
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While the technical barriers to adopting these technologies have been lowered considerably, some domain knowledge and experience in the design, implementation and interpretation is critical for meaningful and reliable monitoring projects.
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