ADD AN ACOUSTIC STATION

~OR~

SPONSOR AN EXISTING STATION

The map shows locations of a standardized network of avian night flight call monitoring stations. All monitoring sites use the Old Bird 21c microphone, which is designed to enable comparison of call rates and relative call loudness between stations over time.

Old Bird welcomes additional stations in this acoustic monitoring network and sponsorship for existing stations. Send inquiries to: ear2sky at oldbird dot org

The information below provides criteria and considerations for establishing a station:

Site evaluation

For a site to be included in the network it typically needs to have a building for the computer equipment to be housed and the microphone to be mounted on. The building should have a clear view to the sky, ideally without proximal trees that may harbor singing insects, and ideally not near waterbodies harboring loud frog choruses. Proximity to roadways is typically not a problem. The site should ideally have electrical power available - and an internet connection if the data is to be classified to species and broadcast the next morning. The suitability of a site can be determined through correspondance with Old Bird.

Equipment and equipment installation

The equipment for a monitoring station typically consists of an Old Bird 21 microphone and a PC computer (an Apple can work in PC emulation mode). These are connected by an audio cable that is about 3/8 inch wide.  The cable needs to have a route into the building and the length of the cable should ideally be less than 100-ft. The cost of the microphone (Old Bird 21c) and a new PC runs about $700 USD ($220 for mic and about $480 for PC), however in many cases a used PC can be found.

Equipment can be set up by those on site with coaching from Old Bird. In some cases Old Bird staff may visit a site to install the monitoring station. Ideally, sites have someone nearby who can help with minor problems that arise such as replacing microphones or addressing minor computer issues.

Data analysis costs

The current cost of processing and posting nightly data online by the next morning for public distribution runs about $5000 USD/year for most locations in eastern North America. This covers daily monitoring from mid-March through November. Daily updated monitoring at most locations in western North America runs about $2500 per station. Contact Old Bird for cost estimates for specific locations.

Flight call data can also be collected and processed at a later date for lower analysis cost. Processing and posting flight call data within a month of the end of a migration period (by ~July 1 for spring migration and ~December 15 for fall migration) costs from $1500 to $3500 per station for the mid-March through November period, depending on continental location.

Data sharing agreement

All flight calls made available on oldbird.org are intended as a public resource. The calls and information are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-ShareAlike 3.0 Uniported License. Distribution of calls and information attributes Old Bird Inc. as well as the host and sponsor of the source acoustic data.

Creative Commons License

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