Collaborative Student Audio ID Project - South Africa

Santana Tosi

Project Goals

And How You Can Help

My name is Santana Tosi, and I am collaborating with researches from Rhodes University, South Africa, on this project. My current research project involves an acoustic study of birds in the Baviaanskloof, Eastern Cape, South Africa. In 2023, between the months of January and March, I deployed multiple audio recording devices across six different vegetation types to assess how both vegetation type and land use type act as drivers of bird communities in the Baviaanskloof. Recorders were active for four recording periods in one day - an hour prior to sunrise and an hour after sunrise, then again an hour prior to sunset and an hour after sunset. Supplemental point counts at specific locations, along with an additional 5-minute point count recording from sites were collected.

Due to the vast amount of audio data collected from each site, we are now turning to citizen science as a method of ID. Assistance consists of reviewing a 10-minute sound file, and recording both the species heard to closest ability possible and the time stamp in the recording at which the call begins. (Example provided below)

With help from ornithologists and birders such as yourself, data can now be processed and confirmed faster. Any and all assistance is greatly appreciated!

Link to Google Drive audio folder here.

Within the 'Master Audio Folder', you will find recordings are divided into their 'Habitat Type' subfolders. In these subfolders, recording will be split into folders based on their 'Site Number'.

For now, there will be five separate ten-minute recordings (all from their respective 'one-hour after sunrise' audio files) in each site folder. Feel free to ID any of the recordings within these folders.

Additionally, an 'Audio ID Submission (Guide Sheet)' will be provided in the 'Master Audio Folder' which can be filled in for each recording. However, this is just a guide sheet, so if this format is not suitable to how you would like to keep track of your IDs, feel free make your own as long as the information in bold from the example below is included.

Once filled out, all ID sheets can be submitted by email to santanatosi@gmail.com.

! Remember, this is a citizen science project. There are no pressures or set assignments on any volunteers. Feel free to contribute as much as you would like; it will all be appreciated. Thank you again !

Site Number: (#)*

Date of Recording: (yyyy-mm-dd)

ID by: (Your Name)

Date of ID: (yyyy-mm-dd)

Time Stamp

0:04

0:27

1:35

2:18

Species ID

Hadada

Fiery-necked Nightjar

Unknown 1 **

Hadada

______________________________________________________________________________

* Site Number along with Recording Date will be found in the title of each audio file

** For any call unable to be ID-ed label the species as 'Unknown' followed by a number specific to that call. This will allow similar unknown calls to be grouped together.