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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

discussion

Seeking AudioMoth in SF Bay Area

Hello Everyone.  Dire situation here. A group or UC Berkeley undergrads is looking to borrow an AudioMoth. Theirs was lost in transit during delivery and their entire...

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I have an AudioMoth that they are welcome to.  I'm down in Moss Beach (just north of Half Moon Bay).

You're awesome Tim, thank you!  However, we ordered another from GroupGets yesterday and it's arriving tomorrow, so we (should) be good to go : )  Now if I can only get LabMaker to reimburse me for the one that didn't arrive, that would fix everything.  Unfortunately they've been incredibly slow to reply ....sigh

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discussion

Replacement (cheaper) foam mic covers

Hi everyone; looking for a source of (cheaper) foam mic covers suitable for the stub mics on a Song Meter Mini.  I've always purchased the 'official' ones but as the price of...

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Hi! I got these ones from Amazon. Also, I was tired of creatures eating them so I created a shield using window mesh screen

 

Hi - thanks for your reply.  I've been thinking along the same lines though unsure where I'd purchase 'acoustic foam' from.  I've made 'dead cats' before for some of my active monitoring mics and that material is not too difficult to source but the only acoustic foam I've come across is the type for deadening sound in studio etc. - the exact opposite of what I want!!  The search continues ....!

Brilliant - thank you.!  Great idea about the screen too - I'm replacing some of them monthly so may try that myself.  Have you found any issues with the mesh generating any tones with wind?

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discussion

Searching for researchers working in Africa

Hi all,I work for World Vision Australia on a project called "Scale Up FMNR" (Famer Managed Natural Regeneration). At its most simple level, FMNR is a practice that encourages...

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Hi Andrew,

Rainforest Connection (RFCx) has projects in a couple different countries in that region, and also working with agroforestry systems to monitor biodiversity using acoustic monitoring! You can read more about that project (Kenya) here: https://rfcx.org/blog/monitoring-biodiversity-in-kenyan-agroforestry-parcels. We've also got a project working with small-scale cacao farmers in Colombia to monitor biodiversity in their cacao plots. For some background, RFCx is a non-profit focused using sound and AI to monitor biodiversity and detect threats, and we also manage the Arbimon acoustic analysis platform. 

I'd be happy to talk through ideas further if you'd like, feel free to reach out! [email protected] 

All the best,

Carly 

HI Andrew,

I am replying to the "elsewhere". I am based in Aus but travel and work in the Arts/ Science field of field recording, often with scientists. I have been acoustic monitoring a peri-urban site in Victoria with a local council. The subject is a wetland, transferring from farmland to a wetland public space that is now surrounded and impacted by urban infrastructure. I was lucky enough to get sounds before, during and after CoVid lockdowns so we can hear a stark comparison of anthropogenic sound.

I'd love to chat further about this and other work I do if this fits your collaboration criteria. 

Best,

Vicki

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discussion

PAM workflow and file question

Hey everyone,I have been working in Arbimon to identify the call of an animal I'm studying (hack call of Ceropithecus nictitans), and have 400 presences and 500 absences in my...

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Like this:

ffmpeg -i input.wav -f segment -segment_time 60 -c copy output%03d.wav
 

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article

In case you missed it... (no.2)

Five #tech4wildlife people, projects and updates that caught my attention this month. This issue is a naturetech, biodiversity startup edition! Featuring a living map of the biodiversity startup scene, is nature data...

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careers

Acoustic Monitoring Specialist

The Institute for Bird Populations (IBP) seeks a California-based acoustic monitoring specialist to collect, manage, and process avian acoustic data from multiple research and conservation projects across California...

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discussion

Is there a good resource for learning bird calls?

This question popped up on Twitter (or x?) and has had some interesting replies! I thought I'd start it as a discussion here too, and not limit it to australia, as it feels...

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Some of the recommendations Kylie has been getting: 

A few more! 

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discussion

Arbimon - Jobs are not working

Hi guys,I have a quick question: The jobs on Arbimon are not running for a week now, I can't find a support site on Arbimon. Does someone have a suggestion, why the jobs won't...

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Hi Jennifer,

Thanks so much for notifying us about this! We have a support page here and you can contact our user support team directly by clicking the green 'question mark' icon in the bottom right corner of the Arbimon page. We can absolutely look on the backend to see what is stalling your jobs, we'll just need a bit more information (e.g., project name, job type, playlist size, etc.) to do diagnostics. I can reach out to you directly for that info - what's a good email for you?  

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discussion

Peruvian Bird Audio Dataset Questions

Hello everyone! I am part of a team on developing CNNs to detect species in the Peruvian Amazon from soundscapes. We are having trouble finding a ground truth dataset for the...

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Hi Sean!

Wanted to just mention that Arbimon, Rainforest Connection's ecoacoustic platform, has a number of projects in Peru (here, here, & others, if you search by keyword 'peru'). We have some existing CNNs for that region (mostly from Ecuador & Brazil, but there is likely species overlap). Do feel free to DM me here or email me ([email protected]) and I'm happy to talk about collaborating! 

-Carly   

Also tagging @NickGardner who works on a similar project! (detecting birds from audio in Peruvian flooded forests)

Interesting! 

Hi Sean, sounds like an excellent project. Definitely talk with the Arbimon folks! As @carlybatist said, I am working with birds in the Peruvian Amazon, but in Loreto. Definitely would like to hear more about your project. As for this labelling issue here, definitely looks like an error. I have not used this dataset, now I'm curious.  To be honest, some questionable labelling in that file in general. Bounding boxes can be very subjective... 

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discussion

Song Meter Micro experience?

Hi everyone, First off, what a great community this is! I only recently found out about it, and it seems like a game changer, especially for early career folk like me.I was...

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Hi Lucy, 

Sorry! I was in the field by the time you replied, and have not been back long. I realise it's been months now, but are you still planning on using the SM Micros? If so, please have a look at my thoughts in the new comment on this thread. I would think in Norway, the stridulating insect issue would not be as bad as in the tropics. Depends on what you want to use them for. Battery life is still definitely an issue though, and even more so in low temperatures. Good luck, let me know how you get on, or if you went with a different recorder.

Cheers,

Nick

Hi everyone. I am suuuuuper late on this discussion but I just finished 6-month fieldwork deploying 18 SM Micro over 70 different locations in Java, so I thought I would like to share my opinion on this device. So my work is basically installing each recorder in one location for the duration of 7-14 days before moving it to a different location, with battery and silica gel changed in between every deployment. Here's my thought:

Waterproofing - The first 2 months of the fieldwork was the wettest season I have ever experienced in the field. Extreme rain almost on a daily basis. Most of the time the recorder was working just fine except for the 2nd week of deployment when I found the inside a bit wet, but it was probably because I forgot to ensure that both lids were clicking.  The recorder still works fine after this deployment, and this was when I decided to change the silica gel before the next deployment.

Sound quality - As mentioned by others. there's an annoying peak at 6kHz. I did not originally plan to do soundscape analysis so it wasn't a big problem at the beginning, but now there is some discussion on doing so. Other than this I found the quality to be just adequate.

Battery Life - I am using alkaline 1,5 volt (non-rechargable) battery and get ~120 hours of recording, with a sample rate of 32khz. Suitable for my method, but certainly not for longer deployment.

Safety - My field site is full of a poacher who does not like to be detected, and the rangers warned me so many times about the camera trap that was destroyed or stolen by these people. I used steel cable and a small carabiner-style padlock which I later realized wouldn't stand a chance against a few hits of the machete, but luckily no recorder went missing--mostly because I tried to hide it as far as possible from the trails and cover our tracks. The small size of SM Micro makes it easy to hide among foliage (be careful on contact noise between leaves and recording), and the fact that it is colored green and has no external light also greatly helps (unlike Swiftone. Seriously, who thought that white is a perfect color for an expensive device that will be left in the forest for a long time?)

In conclusion, it is a cheap and easy-to-get device (compared to the mythical Audiomoth) for species presence detection in a short time like I did, but certainly not for longer deployment or more intricate bioacoustic analysis. 

Hi everyone, 

I wanted to provide an update on behalf of Wildlife Acoustics regarding some of these comments in this thread. As some of you may know, we have just announced the second generation of our Song Meter Micro. Along with 33% longer battery life due to an expanded battery tray (which now holds 4 AAs instead of 3), the Song Meter Micro 2 will also have a flatter frequency response. Though we don’t have a firm release date at the moment, we are currently looking at an early 2024 release, with pre-orders likely to start at the end of 2023. Detailed frequency response charts and specs will also be posted to our site soon. In fact, we have built an anechoic chamber in our new office and will be doing detailed testing with a host of new precision instruments. For more info on the Micro 2, check out our current product page. Lastly, thanks all for your open and honest feedback. It allows us to make our products better and better for you. 

Anechoic Chamber

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careers

Conservation Innovation Manager

Island Conservation's Innovation Team is dedicated to developing innovative, data-driven tools to increase the scale, scope, and pace of island restorations around the world. As the Conservation Innovation Manager, you...

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discussion

Soil Ecoacoustics - viable?

Hi everyone, A colleague is keen to get a gauge on the potential of soil ecoacoustic tech. They are asking - it appears to be quite simple and practical tech, is it viable...

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Awesome, thanks a lot carlos! I've shared with the person who asked me. 

if you're up for it, I also may steal you for a variety hour spot on this at some point, as now i'm curious to hear more! 

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article

In case you missed it... (no. 1)

Five #tech4wildlife people, projects and updates that caught our attention this month. An AI supported bear early warning system, a project that's connecting indigenous communities with high speed internet, exploring...

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Hi Steph! Nice with this "sporadic series"! The bear alarm in China reminds me of the Bear Repeller by the Hack the Planet guys:/Lars
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