For my internship, we are using Wildlife Acoustic sound recorders (SM4) to collect data on the bird and anuran community in Wild Basin.

Wild Basin is a 227 acre wilderness preserve located off 360 in Austin. The preserve is well monitored and maintained, however, the surrounding regions are quickly growing and becoming more and more urbanized. This increased urbanization affects and will continue to affect the anuran bird community. It is our objective of this project to find out to what extent. Our primary objectives are 1. monitor and quantity the bird composition 2. investigate how changes in biodiversity are related to the changing landscape 3. collaborate with local biologists and land managers 4. share results with a larger community

To accomplish this, we are using GIS to make maps and speculate the best places within Wild Basin to place the recorders. We are also using Sound Level Meters to quantify the decibel levels of these locations, so we can pick 4 different locations that have different natural sound levels. Next, we will set up the recorders and use the software Kaleidoscope to help manage and sort through the data. This project is in its infancy and will continue on for several years in Wild Basin. Please review to the Wild Basin blog page for more continuous updates if you’re interested in the project or more information

Myself and another intern using the recorders and measuring tape to test the distance of sound collected