Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 1, 2025
04:10
Visually Sexing Loggerhead Shrike Lanius Ludovicianus Using Plumage Coloration and Pattern
Published on: March 8, 2020
6.3K
Eastern Canada Flocks: images and manually annotated bird positions
Marcos Cruz1, Javier González-Villa2, Josée Lefebvre3
1Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, University of Cantabria, Av. Los Castros 48, Santander, ES-39005, Spain.
Ecology
|June 18, 2021
Summary
The Eastern Canada Flocks dataset provides manually annotated bird images for testing flock size estimation methods. This resource aids in developing precise animal abundance estimation techniques using aerial imagery.
Area of Science:
- Ornithology and Wildlife Ecology
- Computer Vision and Machine Learning
- Data Science and Geospatial Analysis
Background:
- Accurate wildlife population counts are crucial for conservation and management.
- Manual annotation of aerial imagery for bird surveys is labor-intensive and prone to error.
- Developing automated methods for bird detection and counting is essential for large-scale ecological studies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and describe the Eastern Canada (ECA) Flocks dataset, a manually annotated collection of Common Eider (COEI) and Greater Snow Geese (GSGO) images.
- To provide a benchmark dataset for evaluating the precision of automated flock size estimation algorithms, specifically the CountEm method.
- To facilitate research in automated animal abundance estimation from aerial imagery.
Main Methods:
- Acquisition of aerial images from Common Eider Winter Survey and Greater Snow Geese Spring Survey in Eastern Canada.
- Manual annotation of bird positions and species/sex identification using ImageJ's Cell Counter plugin.
- Creation of a dataset including original and cropped images, with detailed .csv files of annotated bird data.
Main Results:
- The ECA Flocks dataset contains 179 COEI and 99 GSGO images, with 637,555 annotated bird positions (124,309 COEI, 514,235 GSGO).
- Annotated data includes species and sex identification for COEI, with detailed counts for males, females, and other species.
- The dataset exhibits high variability in lighting, backgrounds, and bird distribution, making it suitable for rigorous method testing.
Conclusions:
- The ECA Flocks dataset is a valuable public resource for advancing automated methods in wildlife population monitoring.
- The dataset's comprehensive annotations and diverse image conditions will enable robust validation of bird detection and counting algorithms.
- Researchers are encouraged to cite the dataset and contact the core team for potential updates and ongoing analyses.
Related Concept Videos
02:07Conservation of Declining Populations
11.5K
Conservation of declining population focuses on ways of detecting, diagnosing, and halting a population decline. The approach uses methods to prevent populations from going extinct.
11.5K
00:48Optimal Foraging
12.7K
How animals obtain and eat their food is called foraging behavior. Foraging can include searching for plants and hunting for prey and depends on the species and environment.
12.7K
00:53Migration
8.2K
Migration is long-range, seasonal movement from one region or habitat to another. This common strategy, carried out by many different organisms around the world, is an adaptive response that typically corresponds to changes in an organism’s environment, like resource availability or climate. Migrations can involve huge groups of thousands of animals as well as single individuals traveling alone and can range from thousands of kilometers to just a few hundred meters.
8.2K
01:25Selected Data About Geographic Locations
119
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) rely on two core types of data: spatial data and attribute data.Spatial DataSpatial data defines the physical location of features within a coordinate system, typically expressed in terms of latitude and longitude. It provides precise positioning for elements like roads, rivers, or buildings.Attribute DataAttribute data complements spatial data by adding descriptive information about these features. For example, a road's spatial data includes its start and...
119