Seeking Ivory-Billed Woodpecker (Image 3)

Dezhen Song of Texas A&M University, working in collaboration with researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, performs the final system configuration and testing before turning on the robotic cameras at the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas, part of a major effort to locate the famed ivory-billed woodpecker.

The robotic video system is part of a new project called Collaborative Observatories for Natural Environments (CONE) that is funded by the National Science Foundation (grants 05-34848 and 05-35218) to develop automated systems that can observe and record detailed natural behavior in remote settings.

If the researchers obtain conclusive photographic evidence of the woodpecker, it will settle a debate that has become heated in recent years. In the meantime, the new robotic video system provides detailed video sequences of other birds, suggesting a new, high-tech approach to doing field biology work.

To learn more, see the UC Berkeley news release Robotic Cameras Search For Ivory-billed Woodpecker, 'Holy Grail of Birdwatching'. (Date of Image: 2006) [Image 3 of 3. Back to Image 1.]