Group

Camera Traps / Feed

Looking for a place to discuss camera trap troubleshooting, compare models, collaborate with members working with other technologies like machine learning and bioacoustics, or share and exchange data from your camera trap research? Get involved in our Camera Traps group! All are welcome whether you are new to camera trapping, have expertise from the field to share, or are curious about how your skill sets can help those working with camera traps. 

careers

Wolverine Data Technician

WCS
WCS Canada is seeking a Data Technician with a keen eye for detail to support its Wolverine Conservation Program. The Data Technician will be responsible for classifying wildlife photos taken with motion-sensor cameras...

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discussion

Camera Trap Image analyzer

How do I get started with trap tagger in analyzing camera trap data. Thanks in advance

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Hi Ann,

The best thing to do is contact Nic and Hannes directly: 

https://wildeyeconservation.org/contact-us/

They can provide you with an overview of the software and answer any questions you have. I've heard good things from a couple of others who have tried out TrapTagger.

 

Best,

Matt

Hello Matt,

Many thanks for your recommendation . I contacted Nic and we have planned a session where he will take me through the software.

 

Regards,

Ann

Hi Kate,

I highly appreciate your feedback. I love your idea of using wild ID .I have registered for the wild ID and am looking forward to using it in future. I wont hesitate to contact you incase of any inquiries.

Many thanks,

 

Regards,

Ann

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discussion

MegaDetector v5 release

Some folks here have previously worked with our MegaDetector model for categorizing camera trap images as person/animal/vehicle/empty; we are excited to announce MegaDetector...

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Great news Dan! We will be giving the model  a go on some of our new eradication projects soon

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discussion

Time-lapse camera trap recomendations

Hello camera trap gurus, I am searching for recommendations for a cheap (<90USD), rugged, and durable time-lapse camera for studying glacial melt. I've already been...

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Wow, I'd not come across the Kilocam before. What a cool piece of kit! Not remotely helpful to your question sorry (I honestly don't know of a cheaper, better option anyway), but could be the basis of a very cheap, time-lapse camera-collar...

Hi Meredith

We used some cheap Browning trail cams to record grey seal behaviour on the Farne Islands over the last autumn as a timelapse. We recorded an image every 1 min during the pupping season, which you probably don't need not need to record glacial melt, and they performed brilliantly. The batteries (8 x Lithium AA) lasted the whole of the season, from Mid October until the end of December, but we had to periodically swap the 32Gb SD cards as they would fill up after about 3-4 weeks. We also had to tape over the movement detector as that function still works even when timelapse is in operation. 

At the end of the season, we switched to every 2 min to pick up the final waifs and strays and to get some info on the moult, but, due to logistical reasons, we didn't have the chance to replace the batteries, nor could we change the SD cards. Even so, one of the cameras lasted until mid April i.e. over 6 months on a single set of batteries. We only had one of the eight cameras break and that was because a seal went over the top of the camera wrenching it from is anchorage point and eventually into the sea! It did get washed up but was in a sorry state after all that!. The others were all working perfectly and were ready for the seabird season.

Happy to provide more info if you need it

Richard  

Hi Meredith,

Here's a little more information about the Arribada cameras. They are solar powered and received enough power in the Antarctic winter continue photographing.  We programmed them to take an image every hour, which might frequent enough for you to monitor glacial ice. Even with 3 years of continuous monitoring, the memory card did not fill up. I think they are priced a little higher than 90 USD, but they can stand alone without maintenance for a long time. Depending on how remote your field site is, that might be beneficial.

We can send over some of the sea ice images we collected. They're fun and interesting to look at if nothing else.

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discussion

Floating mount/base for cameratrap?

We're monitoring a wetlands ecosystem and after losing some cameras to flooding and treefalls and being interested in detecting some of the swimmers (beavers, otters, etc.) while...

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@Rob_Appleby @Freaklabs 

I haven't tried anything like a floating mount for camera traps so would love to stay posted on how it goes. It would open up a lot of possibilities, but it sounds quite complicated too.

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discussion

How do you store your camera traps?

Hi folks: I'm looking for creative ideas for storing camera traps when they aren't in the field. I've got drawers in the lab, but the cameras become a bit of a tangled mess. Just...

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Hi Erika, 

Suggestions coming in over on Twitter: 

I store my Cameras in one gallon plastic bags with a zipper lock. Most cameras will fit in that size bag. There is a note card that goes in the bag, The note card lasts longer in the bag and does not smear which it will if you write on the outside and is very important if you are running a lot of cameras. You can make a nice note card with a word processor and lay out everything you want to note. The Notes can be whatever you want to track but the most useful is the brand and model, the date the camera was purchased, The Date it went into the storage bag, Notes on if the camera has been updated. The camera number, the password if the camera needs a password, The person who put the camera in the bag with their full name and the date, A note on how the camera did on it's last deployment, Camera works fine, YES, or whatever might be wrong is listed. I would also list any special features that the camera can perform, such has WIFI enable, Cell Camera, etc. I also make sure the Cameras number is easy to see on the card. When the cameras go out they should have a camera number on the inside of the camera so you can track it in your field notes and make sure all the bags come back from deployment so they are ready for when the cameras come back in from the field. 

The batteries are removed from the camera, When I bring a camera in from the field I test each battery with a  battery tester. If all the batteries are still good that information is noted on the bag card that the batteries were tested and their strength. Keeping the batteries with the camera keeps you from mixing batteries of various strengths. Remove any bad batteries and note if a new one has been added. If you decide to replace all the batteries, Note on the card that they are NEW and their strength because all new batteries should be tested to make sure you did not get a bad one. If batteries are not available put that on the Note card, NOTE, removing the batteries will usually require all the settings to be redone, I still put on the note card, CAMERA NEEDS NEW SETTINGS. 

I also put in the SD Cards, with SD size on the Camera Card. Some of my older cameras only take a 32 gig or smaller, while my new cameras take 125 Gig SD cards. If putting out a camera for a very long run I want to grab one that can take a large SD card. I usually have two SD cards for each camera so they can be swapped out but keep the same cards. Put on the Camera Card that the SD card should reformatted before the next deployment or you can reformat the SD card before the batteries are removed, but NOTE on the camera card that the SD cards are formatted and ready to go. This is a good idea so you know before storage that the SD cards work. 

Last I add one packet of Silica Dry packs. The bags are 5 grams. I use DRY and DRY. I got them in a 50 packet bag from Amazon, about 8 bucks. They are cheap and do a great job of removing all the moisture from the Camera, batteries, SD card, and keeps them dry for even very very long storage. 

Hope this helps, when the camera number goes up the more you need to keep them organized. 

I forgot to add, I put the cameras in the bag with the doors or camera halves OPEN so the moisture does not stay in a closed camera, we want everything to stay dry. 

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event

CV4Ecology Summer School

A three-week intensive summer school teaching Computer Vision Methods for Ecology, seeking to empower ecologists to accurately and efficiently analyze large image, audio, or video datasets using computer vision....

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discussion

Advice Needed: Camera Trap Occupancy Modeling for Small Data Set

Hello All!  I'm currently trying to analyze predator-prey spatial overlap using multi-species occupancy modeling. I've created 2-way (between two species)...

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Couple other papers looking at predator-prey interactions with camera trap data & multi-species occupancy models (though you may/probably know about some of them already!) -

Van der Weyde, L. K., Mbisana, C., & Klein, R. (2018). Multi-species occupancy modelling of a carnivore guild in wildlife management areas in the Kalahari. Biological Conservation, 220, 21-28. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320717316464. 

Murphy, A., Kelly, M. J., Karpanty, S. M., Andrianjakarivelo, V., & Farris, Z. J. (2019). Using camera traps to investigate spatial co‐occurrence between exotic predators and native prey species: a case study from northeastern Madagascar. Journal of Zoology, 307(4), 264-273. https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jzo.12645. 

Kleiven, E. F., Barraquand, F., Gimenez, O., Henden, J. A., Ims, R. A., Soininen, E. M., & Yoccoz, N. G. (2021). A dynamic occupancy model for interacting species with two spatial scales. bioRxiv, 2020-12. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.16.423067v2.abstract. 

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discussion

Experience with Microwave Motion Sensors!

Hi all, I'm looking for anyone who has any experience in using Microwave Sensors, such as the rcwl-0516, to detect the motion of birds/mammals for triggering camera traps....

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@TomRS  @greghall and @htarold my initial (and brief) tests with the microwave sensor (same as this one: https://wiki.dfrobot.com/MicroWave_Sensor_SKU__SEN0192) I have suggest it's really sensitive to movement at fairly close range (~2m or less). Whilst this is impressive (like, it can detect my finger moving a few mm @ ~1-2m), it suggests that in order to avoid a lot of false positives/blank images, a fairly high tolerance or threshold would have to be set in the code. This will take a bit of trial and error to get right I reckon. Even though it has an in-buit potentiometer to toggle 'sensitivity' (equates to distance), even at the lowest setting, which is what I have it at, it's still really sensitive out at several metres. It definitely does appear to have an ability to tell the difference between a 'one off' or superficial movement, and more consistent movement that might be expected when an animal moves through an area. Maybe a combo PIR (interrupt) and microwave sensor (double checks after wakeup) could be a goer...although that could be a bit slow...Anyway, thought I'd share...

Last year I did some tests with 2 rcwl-0516 sensors and a single LoRa radio in order to detect human activity on two paths/roads leading to our home. This worked well and as far as i could tell was telling me if something was coming or going, and even infer if there were were more than one coming or going. Each "trap" consisted of two rcwl-0516s on 3 to 5 metre cables which triggered interrupts on an 8v Arduino pro mini, whether sensor A or B triggered first denoting the direction of travel. Whether deer or dogs were triggering the traps was not conclusive to me, but I did not experience to my knowledge any false positives caused by birds or flies - which had been a major issue with PIRs. I was detecting at about 5m to 8m distance. Knowing when the postman was about to arrive gave me time to lock up my dog. It detected bikes, horses, vehicles and humans as I expected. Triggering something like an ESP32 Cam would probably very simple, IF there are enough spare pins to act as interrupts - which was my main problem. HTH.

Thanks @PaulG and @TomRS I've now ordered some of the same model units, so shall hopefully get to test em out soon!

Cheers,

Rob

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article

Introducing the WILDLABS On the Edge Fellows

WILDLABS Team
We're proud to introduce the first WILDLABS On the Edge Fellows for 2022, Loretta Schindlerova and Meredith Palmer! Working alongside expert Edge Impulse mentors, these two fellows will use embedded machine learning to...

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discussion

Comparisons: Close-up Lenses for Camera Traps

Hey Guys! We're setting up a camera trap within a woodpile to see what mammals enter/exit the nesting box we've included there. For this purpose, we'd need a camera...

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I really like your approach Colin, but because I couldn't find any magnets that were small enough for the purpose I resorted to using the complete glasses lens and attaching it with thin strips of velcro (you can buy velcro tap in rolls at the hardware) and on the camera body I used thick double-sided tape for a step-up for attaching the velcro. It works, but the velcro shows signs of deteriorating after 6-8 months in the Australian sun, and the full lens not fitting under the lens hood allows moisture and fine bark particles etc. to get behind it. I'm using Swift 3C cameras and have used +1.5 and +2 lenses with great results. Any advice on where to get small but strong magnets? Re the suggested coax sealant - beware using it for long periods where it is exposed to hot sun. It becomes very difficult/impossible to remove completely. In its intended electrical applications it is meant to be used as a water-proofing over a high quality electrical tape seal. If is has to be removed the sticky gunk remains on the tape.

I've purchased my magnets here and the ferrous mounting stripes here. I've used UV cure superglue for attaching the magnets, as standard superglue sometmes failed after longperiod of being wet.

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discussion

Wifi trail camera

Hello again everyone been a while since I have been online a lot of great ideas I see being posted.   The reason for my post is I am working on a idea for a long range...

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This seems like an eminently sensible thing to try. The main issue I've seen with most wifi cameras is that their antennas are omnidirectional - i.e. they send in every (horizontal) direction, because they don't know where the other wifi endpoint is. That means their signal doesn't go very far, but it's easy to connect. The tplink (and ubiquiti) long range devices have very directional antennas, so their signal is very focussed in that direction, which effectively means it remains quite strong for some distance. They also have to listen for the (more-interesting) return signal though from the wifi camera, and that could cause you grief. However, the highly-directional antenna can pick up fainter signals, from the direction they are pointing at, so it may be ok.

Getting wifi (or any radio signal) over any distance depends a lot on circumstances (distances, terrain, vegetation, weather, interference, ...) so I can't generalise to say this would/wouldn't work. You'd have to try it and see (or get into wifi signal strength measurements and calculations, which you can do with some apps). Some cameras also have removable antennas, so you could replace an omnidirectional (stick) antenna with something much more directional. Or, set up a wifi bridge, with e.g. a ubiquiti point-to-point link, with one end is close to your wifi camera (to pick up its weaker signal) and the other end at the house.

There are plenty of wifi wildlife cameras on ebay, which I understood use their own wifi hotspot to learn how to connect to a broader wifi network - same as the reolink, etc. when you first set them up. Lacking a broader wifi network they might offer their own as a fallback, so you can download while walking by. But I've not tried them, as they are quite expensive, and I have little faith their wifi signal would reach far enough (as per above) for our needs. I'm trying to build my own wildlife cameras now, using esp32cam modules and an external wifi antenna, just waiting on a few more parts :-)

 

Markusb very true but those camera are not truly wifi, they are a wifi /Bluetooth camera , meaning the create there own  wifi network to down load the pics you have to connect to that network.

 

Now in saying that I have not experimented in writing a code using a programming language to be able to turn on and off wifi or Bluetooth and then turn it back off and tell the code to be able to do this ever two hours or so.

But  using a small form factor pc that is connect to a ubiquiti or tplink long range wifi device this is possible to a Bluetooth / wifi trail camera 

Ok, understand. Note, the bluetooth feature is very short range, just to configure the camera from your phone when standing nearby. Wifi will give you some longer range and greater bandwidth for image/video downloads. If it is only offering its own wifi network then that is sad, but unsurprising (they try to be very simple/cheap). Doesn't change my point though about the signal strength - if you are trying to get a really long distance (which is "over 100m" on most wifi cameras) then you will need to add something in between. A dedicated NUC/RPi/small-PC would be one option - but your reolink already has a simple PC built in, that offers the remote control and download features and storage to an SD card, etc. You can write your code to talk to that, from your home, using the reolink API/CGI (https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/900000625763-What-is-CGI-API). The small PC might still need to handle the "long-distance" wifi link if appropriate for your needs, in which case a ubiquiti/tplink wifi bridge (and a PC at home) might be more cost-effective? That can basically extend the camera's wifi back to your home.

This might need some whiteboarding and actual site-information to optimise :-) 

 

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article

Camera traps and community knowledge in Eastern India

Oryx (Journal)
This article argues for a conservation method that integrates monitoring technology and community knowledge. Focusing on pangolins, the most trafficked animals globally, the study combines camera trap data from the...

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article

Identification of Wildlife in Camera Trap Images

MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute - Journal)
Camera trap wildlife surveys can generate vast amounts of imagery. A key problem in the wildlife ecology field is that vast amounts of time is spent reviewing this imagery to identify the species detected. Valuable...

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discussion

Feedback Needed: Wireless Camera Traps

I am interested in making long distance wireless camera traps ( approx 15 kms), but as a proof of concept i am trying to make a short distance one (approx 500 metre) first,...

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Just be aware of the limitations; you'll be transmitting at a very slow baud rate on frequencies that may have strict duty cycle (transmission time) and ERP (transmission power) limits. Check up on the rules for the region in which you intend to operate and make sure that the restrictions fit in with your intended application.

The following two papers describe our attempst to develop an open source RPi camera trap platform with long range communications capability, and may be of interest:

Nazir, S., Fairhurst, G., Verdicchio, F., 2017. WiSE - a satellite-based system for remote monitoring. Int. J. Satell. Commun. Netw. 35, 201–214. https://doi.org/10.1002/sat.1176

Nazir, S., Newey, S., Irvine, R.J., Verdicchio, F., Davidson, P., Fairhurst, G., Wal, R. van der, 2017. WiseEye: Next Generation Expandable and Programmable Camera Trap Platform for Wildlife Research. PLoS One 12, e0169758. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169758

More details can be found here: https://erg.abdn.ac.uk/wise/

/Scott

 

Vasudev

I have had no issues using ubiquiti device and pushing internet out to 5 miles line of site, what I am curious what are you using for you camera on the other end, I have always wanted to try and build a long distance wifi trail camera ( true wifi ).

is it solar powered or battery powered that has been my issue trying to figure out the power issue 

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discussion

Cellular and Lora camera traps

Dear all, I'm looking for feedback from field experience using cellular and/or LoRA camera trap. How is the reliability of those systems and how strong have to be the...

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Hi Antoine,

I am intrigued myself about how well a LoRa-based trail camera might work. I wonder if the 'LoRa' element is a more traditional radio connection? And of course the system still appears to rely on a cellular connection at the base station end. But interesting nonetheless. 

On the radio side, there's also the CuddeLink model: https://www.cuddeback.com/cuddelink

However, I'd be sitting down when you look at the price. 

I've had reasonable success with older model 3G cameras such as the Bolymedia MG983G-30M. From memory, it couldn't transfer video files larger than 10sec in length and it gets a bit glitchy if the batteries are running low. But, it worked well enough for me at the time.  

If you do end up looking closer at the 'LoRa' model, please let us know how it works.

Cheers,

Rob

Hi Antoine,

I had not seen these before, but I'll echo Rob in wondering if the radio links in these are truly what most would consider 'LoRa'.  That tech/protocol generally has very low data transfer rates and would be quite challenged in sending pictures.  That said, what they call it may not be relevant if it works for you. I would just be cautious of thinking it could integrate with other 'LoRa' devices or networks.  Some other web sites that mention this system describe the radio link as 'proprietary'.

Kyler

Antoineede they are a mesh style of camera, one links to the other and then send pictures back to the home unit where you either send them via cellular or you check the sd card. The cover Lora and cuddielink cameras do this but they play hell on battieries.

I had a cuddelink system and got rid of it , the home unit was to hook up to a pc and then from there you could easily wept a scrip to send to txt message or email etc but they scrapped that idea 

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discussion

Try our open-source automatic camera trap detection/labeling tool!

Hi everyone! We are spreading the word about a free, open-source tool called Zamba that automatically detects and classifies animals in...

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This sounds so cool! I will try it out and spread the word.

Wow, Zamba looks like a great tool. I'm curious about the terms of data use and privacy of the data uploaded to Zamba by users. I couldn't find that info on the website, could you point me in the right direction?

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article

Low-cost underwater camera trapping and deep learning

Wake Forest University
This study breaks ground in outlining a methodology for a system of low-cost, long-term camera traps (Dispersed Environment Acquatic Cameras) that can be deployed over large spatial scales in remote marine environments...

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