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Indexing predator abundance and activity: Can PERDIXPro help?

Indexing predator abundance and activity: Can PERDIXPro help?

Biologists at Tall Timbers Research & Land Conservancy in northern Florida, USA have developed a method for estimating the relative abundance and activity of northern bobwhite nest predators. Using scent stations that attract and record visitations by predators such as Raccoons, Armadillos, Opossums and Coyotes, land managers can determine if their populations across an area are at a level that are known to be detrimental to bobwhite reproduction.  Armed with this vital knowledge, they can then determine if a control program is required to reduce their numbers. Scent stations are now used regularly on properties managed for wild northern bobwhite across the Red Hills region and further afield.

Distributed across quail courses, scent stations are created every Autumn by placing a scent block in the middle of a circular patch of soft sand. Then, every morning for a week, the sand of each station is inspected for animal tracks and any visitors noted. The sand is then swept to allow for fresh tracks to be surveyed the following day. 

Tall Timbers Game Bird Research Biologist, Mike Hazelbaker, checking a scent station for mesopredator tracks.

After this period, the land manager then calculates the number of visits per 100 scent station days. If the predator abundance reaches >15% then control is recommended. To help with predator management, Tall Timbers have been also incorporating our PERDIXPro Remote Monitoring System & trap tags across their predator management activities.


PERDIXPro trap tags used by Tall Timbers to assist with predator management activities.

During our team’s recent trip to Tall Timbers, we met up with Gamebird Research Biologist, Mike Hazelbaker, who manages the deployment and surveying of their annual scent stations. Mike and his colleagues at Tall Timbers helped us deploy our PERDIXPro enabled 4G cameras on seven scent stations to monitor visits. On completion of the survey period, the number of mesopredators from track identification and camera images were collated and found to be comparable. The results of this small study were encouraging and so we plan to continue this work during 2025.

PERDIXPro remote monitoring camera set to capture mesopredator visits to a scent station.

While scent stations are easy to set up and run, the man-hours and skill in identifying tracks, particularly where multiple species and individuals have visited in a single night, can be difficult. The team at Perdix Digital have therefore begun investigating the possibility of using 4G digital cameras to record visitations at scent stations. These images are then sent to the PERDIXPro cloud platform where they can be viewed by land managers at their desk. Furthermore, Perdix Digital are incorporating AI animal detection and identification into their system to allow relative predator abundance and activity to be calculated automatically. 

Various species were identified at scent stations via our PERDIXPro remote monitoring trail cameras, and also provided opportunity to test our new AI animal detection and ID system. (Clockwise: Armadillo, Coyote, Bobcat, Opossum)

In many parts of the world, increases in predator populations are having a negative affect on the reproductive success of ground nesting bird species.  Here in the UK, predators such as the red fox, rat, American mink and stoat are putting considerable pressure on our ground nesting bird populations, particularly wader species, in certain landscapes. Therefore, the development and use of an automated predator detection and monitoring system could be a vital first step in helping to produce effective and sustainable management prescriptions.

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