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By: Cynthia Kielpinski, Wildlife Projects Assistant January 22 2022 Hey! My name is Cynthia Kielpinski, and I am an undergraduate student at UBCO studying Statistics and Ecology. My experience in wildlife ecology began this past summer working as a Wildlife Technician in Hinton, Alberta where I conducted ground-based wildlife surveys and in-stream waterbird surveys. I was tasked with installing and analyzing data from wildlife cameras, and assisting in the banding of Harlequin Ducks. I am currently working as a Wildlife Projects Assistant for the WiRE lab on the Southern BC Cougar Project and one of my main responsibilities is to classify camera footage collected at cougar kill sites. What is a wildlife camera and how do they function? Wildlife cameras are compact yet rugged and waterproof motion-sensored cameras that capture animal behaviour, occurrence, and interactions in wildlife studies. There are many different makes and models (we use Browning Strike Force and Bushnell Trophy Cam); however, most models include photo, video, or time-lapse settings, and varying resolutions, detection ranges, and trigger speeds. Wildlife cameras are conventionally mounted on trees in remote locations to capture a particular species of interest. Cameras are installed 3-5 meters from a target (e.g. a carcass or a game trail) and motion tested by walking across the camera viewshed as though a wild animal (we call this the bear walk). Each camera requires an SD card and 6-8 lithium batteries that will sustain cold temperatures. When motion is detected by the cameras, images are captured with a timestamp of the date, time, temperature, and moon phase for future use. Additional accessories such as python cable locks and bear guards protect the camera from thieves, destruction by animals, and the elements like heavy snowfall. My role as a camera image classifier The Southern BC Cougar Project team is interested in understanding scavenging behaviour at cougar kill sites and quantifying how much food cougars might lose to other animals. Wildlife cameras are placed at kills < 1 week old for a minimum of 30 days. After which, the camera is retrieved, the number of images and any evidence of scavenger presence such as tracks or scat is recorded, and the SD card is labelled and sent to me. Part of my work is to classify wildlife camera images using the software program TimeLapse II. TimeLapse extracts information from the images such as the date, time, and image number. Then, I fill out the remaining information such as the coordinates, site name, temperature, and classify animal behaviour. I identify common wildlife in each of the three main study areas (Kootenay, Boundary, and West Okanagan). I need to distinguish a mule deer from a white-tailed deer, a Canada lynx from a bobcat, and be familiar with many species of scavenging birds like Black-billed Magpies, Canada jays, and Golden Eagles. This task seems easy, until a blurry shapeless blob passes in front of the camera. Classifying images requires patience, attention to detail, the ability to monitor 3-5 different species and their behaviours at the carcass. I describe each behaviour as inspecting, consuming, or passively moving by the kill. Not all image sets are filled with exhilarating images. Sometimes there are thousands of photos of waving vegetation or hundreds of birds moving in and out of the frame! However, in between these arduous data sets are sites with plenty of cougar activity. Camera analysis is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. One of my favourite detections so far was a female cougar and her sub-adult feasting on their recent kill. Staying focused for long hours is not easy, but observing cougar behaviour and the interactions between different species competing for access to food is exciting work! Why is wildlife camera analysis so crucial to understanding species interactions?
Each set of images tells the story of resource sharing and competition between cougars and other scavenging species. For example, most scavengers wait for cougars to leave the kill before making their presence known. Golden Eagles are less likely to share their scavenged finds with another species, whereas Bald Eagles are more inclined to do so. Most animals at the kills appear curious and cautious around cameras at night compared to daytime. Once the team statistically models the camera data, the trends in animal behaviour at cougar kills and the potential impact of scavengers on cougar feeding time will emerge. What's next for me? After my undergraduate degree I aim to pursue graduate studies researching behavioural ecology. In the future, I would like to work directly with environmental and wildlife-based research, regulation, and conservation. I am interested with the statistical and modelling component of data collection but to still have the ability to be working in the field collecting data. For now, I am thankful to be collecting valuable behavioural data for the Southern BC Cougar Project while watching “Big Cat TV”!
1 Comment
Casey Devine
2/7/2023 04:01:32 pm
This is awesome work! My team has been monitoring mountain lions with a large camera grid along with active kill site monitoring and I know all too well the pain of deciphering what blur of an animal just passed by the camera. I’m extremely interested in what sort of scavenging results you find because we don’t have bears in our study area and I can imagine that makes a larger impact than the birds and meso predators you observe.
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Authors
The authors are Southern BC Cougar Project team members & volunteers. Past Blog Entries
September 2023
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