Development of Migratory Birds Population Monitoring System Using Digital Single Reflex Camera

Traditionally, biologists trace migratory birds by using their naked eye and binocular for counting. The counters will feel tired and easily lost their concentration after waiting and counting the migratory birds for a long period of time. Other than that, when there is a large number of migratory birds fly together, it is very difficult to count them. In this case, the accuracy of the ground count is unreliable. In order to increase the accuracy, we developed a monitoring system for counting migratory birds. Since Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera price become more and more affordable, we proposed to use DSLR as a remote sensor to capture images. The images were processed based on the image processing technique to obtain the amount of migratory birds in the image. This software was tested in Kenting National Park during autumn migratory season 2010. The computed populations were compared with the manually counted numbers. The results produce a high degree of accuracy as indicated by the high coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.979. The results show that it can be effective improved the accuracy of ground count.