Robo Bird-Watcher

An intelligent video system in an Arkansas bayou searches for an elusive bird.

Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and from Texas A&M University have developed a new kind of bird-watching system that automatically identifies birds in flight and records their movements in high-resolution video. Preliminary results and video clips from the ongoing project were presented on Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in San Francisco.

The ivory-billed woodpecker is an elusive bird long thought to be extinct. Controversial video of a bird resembling the species has revitalized the search. Researchers hope to catch a glimpse of the bird with an automated video system that can identify the winged creatures. Credit: Courtesy of the the Audobon Society

Multimedia •  Watch the video system's recording of a red-tailed hawk.

Ultimately, the researchers hope the cameras catch a glimpse of the ivory-billed woodpecker. The search for the woodpecker, long thought to be extinct, was revitalized in 2004 when a bird resembling the species was caught on video in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge of eastern Arkansas. The video was too blurry, however, to allow a definitive identification. Field biologists sat in canoes for hours, waiting for an ivory-billed woodpecker to fly by so they'd have more-conclusive evidence.

"It's incredibly difficult and tedious," says Ken Goldberg, one of the lead researchers on the project and a professor of engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. "Even if they see something, getting the camera focused [quickly] is very tricky." Some birders were using motion sensors to trigger video cameras, but Goldberg says the equipment wasn't sensitive enough to detect the relatively small creatures.

Intrigued by the problem, Goldberg and colleague Dezhen Song, an assistant professor of computer science at Texas A&M University, designed a special system to aid in the search. Known as the Automated Collaborative Observatory for Natural Environments (ACONE), the two-camera system scans a patch of sky (measuring roughly 300 feet by 900 feet) above the Cache River refuge. Goldberg says it's an ideal location because it's a high-traffic area for birds and clear of treetops, so the cameras get a relatively unobstructed view. The cameras are mounted on a power-line pole, along with a computer, in the middle of a bayou.

As the cameras scan the sky, each one captures images at 11 frames per second. Those frames are temporarily stored in a buffer. Software on the computer analyzes each frame immediately, looking for things that roughly match the speed and size of an ivory-billed woodpecker. When a bird is detected, Goldberg explains, the system permanently records and stores the previous seven frames and the next seven frames of video on the hard drive. Each frame has a resolution of 1,600 by 1,200 pixels. To save storage space, frames that the software deems irrelevant are automatically deleted.

The software also saves time. The fewer images collected, the fewer canoe trips are required to replace the hard drive in the middle of the bayou. More important, the automatic identification system means that human eyes are spared from watching endless hours of empty sky.