An automated starling acoustic detection tower currently being trialled at Gibson. Photo: Elena Arens.
A new high-tech widget is being trialled at Gibson and three other south coast locations to detect an invasive pest.
The automated acoustic technology is to be deployed to bolster Western Australia’s biosecurity defences against the European starling.
The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) says it will roll out the new surveillance equipment to improve detection of starlings.
DPIRD senior research scientist Susan Campbell said the project, built on a decade of preceding research and development, would scale up the department’s ongoing starling surveillance.
“DPIRD has recently awarded a tender to Supersensory Technologies to construct portable edge-computing devices capable of automating the acoustic detection of starlings from remote locations throughout WA’s south coast,” Dr Campbell said.
“In the first 12 months, this project aims to deliver 20 devices to be deployed throughout high-risk starling habitat on WA’s south coast.
“The field devices constantly capture and process acoustic information through an on-board, starling-specific, machine learning algorithm.
“The devices then remotely communicate any plausible starling detections for manual verification in close to ‘real-time’.
“Scaling up our automated field response with these new devices increases our surveillance footprint, enabling DPIRD to mount a rapid response to any verified starling incursion.”
DPIRD runs an ongoing trapping and surveillance program in the south-east of the State, with the aim to prevent the pest bird establishing itself in WA.
“Because starlings are firmly established throughout eastern Australia, incursions represent an ongoing risk to WA’s agricultural and environmental assets,” Dr Campbell said.
“Starlings are highly adaptable, can disperse over very large distances and breed rapidly under good conditions.”
Starling management occurs annually, predominantly during spring and summer when starlings are actively looking to breed and control measures are most effective.
