Spread your wings: video surveillance helps bird watchers save rare birds

“First the female Ulyana flew in and at first reacted cautiously to the camera’s lens, later the male Simbir flew in, who approached the camera very favorably, and finally, to the joy of everyone, persuaded her friend to reproduce in this nest.”

Man has a destructive effect on nature - changes the ecological balance, reduces biological diversity, depletes and pollutes resources. In many regions, humanity has come close to the Rubicon, after which the mass extinction of species begins. Under such conditions, indifference to environmental actions is a complicity in the genocide of life on the planet.

An interesting conservation initiative in recent years is the study of wildlife with the help of modern video surveillance systems broadcasting unique shots for hundreds of thousands of observers from around the world. Understanding the intricacies of the behavior of animals and birds, we learn more about the natural life that flows without human participation and intervention.
')
Many rare and endangered species, especially among birds, do not take root in zoos. They need freedom, huge spaces for activity. Video surveillance helps non-invasively understand the complexity of relationships between members of one family, their relationships with other individuals of their own species, as well as with other animals. Ultimately, new data increases the chances of species survival.

How to install the camera in the "wild conditions"

Photo: reserve "Berezovsky" , Amur region

It is easy for scientists to find rare birds, where it is more difficult to place a camera in the control point. It turned out that most often you need to watch the birds, who make their nests at the very tops of the crowns. In this case, the camera must be installed so that it does not frighten the birds, looked directly into the nest, withstood strong wind, low temperatures and heavy rain.

In the past, cameras for studying wildlife were located only in national parks, under constant protection and connected to the network. Not all birds can be caught in places prepared for observation - the proximity of a person is frightening. Therefore, it became necessary to place fully autonomous systems that are powered by solar panels, broadcast a video stream over the Internet and store data in a cloud archive.

On the website of public broadcasts Ivideon TV, we found broadcasts that delight specialists and wildlife lovers with vivid scenes from the lives of rare birds. Birds of families are engaged in construction, clean feathers, skeptically inspect possessions worn during the winter, or are optimistic about the appearance of chicks. This is the best reality show!

Far East Stork

The Amur Region Animal Conservation Authority is helping to monitor the life of Far Eastern storks in the Berezovsky Reserve from four cameras monitoring two nests online. Each nest has a pair of birds.

The Far Eastern stork is one of the rarest birds in our country. This species is endangered and is included in the Red Book of the Russian Federation.

In 2000, the two largest international conservation organizations, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), held an international meeting “The Far Eastern Stork and Conservation of Wetlands in the Amur Basin”, which developed the first national conservation strategy this rare species.

The video surveillance project on the life of storks was implemented by the Public Ecological Organization AmurSoES with the support of the World Wide Fund for Nature.

All cameras transmit sound. If you see only a black screen - this is normal. In the Amur region may be night.

[Dear Boomburum . Please give us back the opportunity to embed live broadcasts on Habr]

Camera 1: Far Eastern stork nest on a tripod

The nest is located on a high-rise artificial tripod, created by experts of the Berezovsky reserve in the Amur Region.

Camera 2: Far Eastern stork nest on a tripod, side view

The camera is set 30 meters from the nest for a better view.

Camera 3: Far Eastern stork nest on birch

Camera 4: Far Eastern stork nest on a birch, side view

Solar eagle

Camera in the nest of the Solar Eagle

The solar eagle, the graveyard eagle (Aquila heliaca), one of the most charismatic animal species of the forest-steppe, has been chosen as a natural symbol of the Ulyanovsk region. Despite the high population density, within the region, relatively intact landscape areas of the forest-steppe remain, including arrays of meadow steppes, deciduous and pine forests. Therefore, a large, viable nesting solar eagle population is maintained here.

Scientists not only helped to recognize the eagle as a symbol of the region, but also made a lot of efforts to study and preserve the rare bird population. The Nabu-Kavkaz Non-State Environmental Center with the support of the German Association for Nature Conservation (NABU) and the Government of the Ulyanovsk Region is monitoring the nesting biology of the Volga population.

In March 2019, the first online broadcast of the nesting life of solar eagles was established in the Ulyanovsk region, and probably in all of Russia. By the way, this species of birds with a golden head is depicted on the coat of arms of Russia.

The latest news from the nest from the ornithologist Mikhail Korepov, project manager for the study of the Solar Eagles:

First, the female Ulyana flew in and at first reacted cautiously to the camera lens, later the male Simbir flew in, who treated the camera very favorably, and eventually, to all the joy, persuaded her friend to breed in this nest.

Simbir is more active in construction and is distinguished by love for huge branches, while Ulyana is mainly engaged in eating gophers and hamsters, both from her and from Simbir. In general, the couple have very warm relations, although sometimes they are closely in one nest.

Osprey Belarus

Photo: Wildlife of Belarus portal

For the third consecutive year, online broadcasting from the nest of the Osprey fish-eating eagle has been in Belarus. The Osprey is a species of diurnal birds of prey that inhabits the large high bogs of northern Belarus. Osprey ceased to nest in areas intensively developed by humans, and remains only in inaccessible places.

For own feeding and feeding of the Osprey nestlings it is necessary that large reservoirs, lakes or clear rivers rich in fish be located in the vicinity. The narrow specialization of food and the “habit” of settling in such specific habitats made the osprey one of the species that hit the pages of the Red Book.


Photo: Pavel Melnik

To organize video surveillance of these amazing birds, we had to solve a lot of problems. Krasny Bor is a sparsely populated area with unstable mobile phone coverage. Only two jacks of the Osprey were in an area where the level of the 3G / 4G signal was sufficient for broadcast through the cloud-based video surveillance service.


Photo: Pavel Melnik

Installation of equipment began before the arrival of birds. A large team of system administrators, power engineers, electricians, installers, suppliers, welders, rangers and ornithologists, worked to create an autonomous video surveillance system with minimal follow-up maintenance.


Photo: Pavel Melnik

After the appearance of chicks, people no longer have the right to interfere with the natural life of birds, therefore, the video surveillance system must be distinguished by high reliability and uninterrupted operation in all weather conditions.

The initiator and performer of the broadcast project from the nest was the Scientific and Practical Center for Hunting and Wildlife Resource Management of the Hunting Farm "Krasny Bor" in the information partnership of wildlife.by.

Red Bor. Camera

How to make any broadcast public

Each user of the cloud Ivideon video surveillance service can create a public broadcast by connecting any “For Business” tariff plan. In the public access settings, it is possible to turn on the sound in the broadcast and provide all viewers with access to the video archive. The public camera will automatically be added to the camera directory on the Ivideon TV website. Here are collected video broadcasts from around the world, you can find them by markers on the map.