AI invention in works that can monitor Barn Owl chicks without disturbing nesting

Scientists from Bournemouth University are developing an artificial intelligence tool to count barn owl chicks by the sound of their calls to avoid disturbing their nests.

PhD student Kavisha Jayathunge, is leading the project to prevent the young birds from being affected by the installation of video cameras to monitor them.

He is working with biologist-turned-electronics engineer Brian Cresswell to create the computer model which can calculate the number of owls by being able to distinguish their individual calls.

Mr Jayathunge said: "We're using AI to count baby barn owls by sound instead of disturbing them in their nests with video cameras. "This helps reduce stress on the birds and could give us data from natural nest sites, which are often inaccessible for monitoring, not just the artificial nest boxes where most of the data we currently have comes from." He explained the AI technology would be able to identify distinctions in sounds made by each baby owl which would be indistinguishable to the human ear. It would pick out the differences in frequency which would indicate the number of birds, as well as each individual bird's identity.

Mr Jayathunge said the long-term aim of the project was to develop the technology so volunteers and conservationists would be able to capture the sounds of hissing owlets at their nests.