The Western Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), also known as Wood Grouse, is a keystone species facing critical decline due to habitat fragmentation and human disturbance. Early detection and continuous monitoring are crucial to prevent further population loss and inform conservation strategies. Traditional monitoring methods fall short in dense forest environments where these elusive birds live. Manual field surveys disturb wildlife and are labor-intensive, while camera traps struggle with dense canopies that obscure visual detection, limited sunlight that drains batteries, and the Capercaillie's cryptic behavior that rarely triggers motion sensors.
An AIoT-based detection system can help identify Wood Grouse presence quickly through their distinctive vocalizations, allowing for prompt conservation intervention and habitat protection measures. By continuously monitoring forest audio, the system can provide real-time insights into population distribution and behavior patterns. This monitoring can help detect breeding activities, territorial calls, and population density changes, indicating the conservation status of local Wood Grouse populations.
Here we present GrouseGuard - a low-power IoT device that detects Wood Grouse vocalizations in real-time using edge AI and reports findings via LoRaWAN connectivity. It is unobtrusive and wildlife-friendly. Built around a custom Colibri IoT – NatureGuard board, GrouseGuard uses machine learning trained on birdcall datasets to recognize distinctive calls and transmit alerts through The Things Network to a centralized Node-RED dashboard. While the system has not yet been deployed in actual forest environments, we tested the detection pipeline using various Wood Grouse recordings found online. These tests demonstrated the model's ability to recognize the target species in different acoustic conditions.
Since Wood Grouse vocalizations are distinct but can vary by season and individual birds, we collected audio samples from the xeno-canto database (https://xeno-canto.org/species/Tetrao-urogallus), a comprehensive collection of bird recordings from around the world. We focused on three main classes: Wood Grouse calls (Petelin), other bird species sounds, and background forest sounds to minimize false positives from environmental noise.
We created a new project on the Edge Impulse platform and uploaded our audio samples. Edge Impulse allowed us to label the samples with the corresponding classes (Petelin, Other birds, and Background sounds). We used the MFCC (Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients) processing block to extract features from the audio samples and then trained a machine learning model.
Once our model was trained, we evaluated its performance using test data to assess its accuracy in distinguishing between Wood Grouse calls and other forest sounds. The feature explorer shows good separation between our three classes, with Petelin samples (green) forming distinct clusters separate from other birds (orange) and background sounds (blue), indicating the model can effectively differentiate Wood Grouse vocalizations.
After training and evaluating our model, we deployed it onto the custom NatureGuard module running Arduino-compatible firmware. Edge Impulse provides seamless integration for microcontrollers, allowing us to run our trained model directly on the low-power IoT device with only 5ms inference time and 50.1K flash usage, making it ideal for battery-powered field deployment.
ConnectivityWith the intent to transmit detection data from remote forest locations to our monitoring system, we utilized LoRaWAN connectivity through The Things Network (TTN). The NatureGuard module features built-in LoRaWAN capabilities, making it perfect for long-range, low-power communication in areas with no cellular coverage.
As show in the picture below, the workflow of our LoRaWAN-TTN connection is as follows:
- The NatureGuard module runs continuous audio inference and detects Wood Grouse vocalizations using the Edge Impulse model
- Upon detection, the device transmits a compact data packet containing detection confidence, timestamp, and device location via LoRaWAN
- The Things Network receives the transmission and forwards it to our Node-RED application through TTN's webhook integration
- Node-RED processes the incoming data and updates the monitoring dashboard in real-time
This approach ensures reliable data transmission even from deep forest locations where traditional connectivity options are unavailable, while maintaining extremely low power consumption essential for long-term autonomous operation.
DashboardWe developed a comprehensive monitoring interface using Node-RED that provides real-time visualization of Wood Grouse activity in a monitored forest area. The dashboard receives data from the NatureGuard device deployed in a forest location via The Things Network integration.
The main feature of our dashboard is an interactive map displaying a circular zone around a known Wood Grouse habitat. The circle represents a monitoring area and changes color based on the number of detections recorded:
- Green: High number of detections indicating active Wood Grouse presence (usually more than 5 detections)
- Yellow: Moderate detection count showing some activity in the area (between 1-5 detections)
- Red: Low or no detections, potentially indicating reduced population presence
The color-coding algorithm considers the cumulative number of detections in the perimeter of the monitored zone, providing conservationists with an intuitive visual indicator of population activity levels. Additional dashboard features include a historical data visualization, which shows detection trends over time.
This centralized monitoring system enables wildlife researchers to track Wood Grouse populations across large forest areas without physical site visits, supporting evidence-based conservation decisions and habitat protection strategies.
Video demonstrationThe video below demonstrates how the GrouseGuard works in a nature setting.
Conclusions and Future ImprovementsWhile GrouseGuard successfully demonstrates the potential of AIoT technology for wildlife monitoring, this project remains in the proof-of-concept stage. The detection pipeline has been tested using various online recordings, including YouTube videos and internet sources containing Wood Grouse vocalizations, rather than in actual forest deployment conditions.
There is significant room for improvement to make this system ready for real-world conservation applications:
Field Testing: Comprehensive field trials are essential to validate detection accuracy in real forest environments with ambient noise and weather conditions.
Model Enhancement: The machine learning model would benefit from a more diverse dataset collected directly from Slovenian forests, including seasonal variations and local dialect differences.
Hardware Optimization: For long-term deployment, the system requires improved power management, weatherproofing, and protection against wildlife interference.
Despite these limitations, GrouseGuard provides a solid foundation for scalable, non-invasive wildlife monitoring that could be adapted for other endangered species conservation efforts.
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