Can drones be used to count birds?

Maddie Hayes is a Remote Sensing Analyst at the Duke Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Lab. The Lab promotes interdisciplinary research using unmanned aircraft systems and other small robotic platforms.  Maddie’s research focuses on the applications of artificial intelligence and GIS to analyze drone imagery. 

She is currently using deep learning frameworks and remote sensing theory for seabird population assessments and water quality analysis.  Maddie graduated from the University of Vermont in 2019 with a B.S. in Environmental Sciences and Geospatial Technologies. Before joining the Lab, Maddie worked at the University of Vermont Spatial Analysis Lab, where she researched the use of drone imagery and object-based image analysis for aquatic invasive species classification. 

In this episode of the Drone Radio Show, Maddie talks about using drones to automate counts of huge seabird colonies in the Falkland Islands.