Emerging Technology & Digital Bird Nests

J.Stephens/R.Stephens

I had the honor and pleasure to work with some great colleagues this summer (June Stephens, and Joe Cerreta and Patrick Sherman from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University) on a project to show off new digital tools for bird survey work at the North American Ornithological Conference.  Here is the paper:

EMERGING TOOLS FOR ORNITHOLOGY: RAPTOR HABITAT 3D MODELING WITH AN UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEM (UAS): AN OSPREY (PANDION HALIAETUS) NEST CASE STUDY

Stephens, J., Cerreta, J., Walton, D., and Sherman, P. (2020, August). Osprey Nest 3D Model. In D. Bird (Chair), Emerging Tools. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the American Ornithology Society and North American Ornithology Society [online].

The project involved flying UAV quadcopters to capture aerial photography of bird nests, in the case an osprey nest, so that the structure of these nests can be digitally captured for analysis.  It involved several people flying the quadcopters to get the data. Other members of the team then transformed image data into a digital 3D model of the bird nest.  I came along built a second digital model that we could then 3D print on the Lulzbot printer at the DeArmond Makerspace in the Price Science Commons.  Part of the stimulus for the project was the work by David Bird from McGill University who sponsored the symposium on Emerging Tools at the American Ornithological/North American Ornithological Conference meeting this August, 2020.