Observational videos in the Norwegian wetlands support ongoing study into the lives of a wide variety of bird species while providing high quality content for a forthcoming video production.
BirdLife Norge avdeling Vestfold has recently installed a high-definition surveillance camera from Axis to document the behaviours of birds at Ilene nature reserve near the Norwegian city of Tønsberg. Streamed via a dedicated YouTube channel, the video footage serves to improve awareness and engagement with the project, educating and informing the public about the lives of a vast array of birds, whilst also being stored and used for research by keen ornithologists. The BirdLife team have learned much from watching the video stream, such as the fact that grey herons can hunt for fish all night long. Such is the quality of the video imagery that it will form the core material for a new film, due in Autumn 2022.
The camera, installed by Axis partner Nokas Teknikk Sør, the Norwegian districts security market leader, takes a central position in an area named Vestre Ilene, in which experts believe they have seen the largest concentration of wetland birds in Eastern Norway. Approximately 280 species of birds have been observed in the area including Eurasian Spoonbill, Little and Great Egret, making for a diverse range to capture in beautiful HD video. The opportunity to study in detail the behaviours of such a variety of birds may be used as important input in the future conservation work of BirdLife Norge.
The decade-long project at the Illene nature reserve had been hampered by an aging legacy camera set-up that couldn’t accurately document the movements of the many bird species that pass through the reserve. In addition to issues relating to image quality, streaming and file storage, the cybersecurity of the hardware was a concern, as was the inability to effectively integrate with other technologies. The move to Axis and its Q-Series has presented the reserve with a highly secure and robust network camera with 30x optical zoom and a mounted infrared (IR) light, providing crystal-clear imagery even in low light and adverse weather conditions.
Ragnar Syvertsen of BirdLife Norge avdeling Vestfold commented:
“Axis’ network video solution has vastly improved what we are trying to achieve at the reserve. We can now record, stream and store video of the highest quality to document many behavioural traits and other important biological aspects of their lives. We have already learned so much thanks to the clear imagery we can now capture day and night, preserving every intricate detail for further study.”
Birdlife Norge works to protect bird habitats, running conservation-related projects on several threatened and near-threatened bird species both within Norway and abroad. Through rigorous data-gathering and analysis, they ensure that key up-to-date information is always on hand, and the video from Axis’ camera forms part of this growing repository of information.
Øystein Hjell, Key Account Manager at Axis, Norway said of Axis’ involvement:
“The work at Ilene nature reserve showcases the abilities of our technology to capture accurate, vivid imagery for use in an application that is far removed from security. We are proud that we have been able to support Birdlife Norge and that the video from our camera has been chosen for use in a forthcoming film which will showcase this fantastic project and its outcomes.”
Birdlife Norge will be launching the new film on 23 November 2022.
Watch the Ilene nature reserve live camera stream: https://youtu.be/vez4yfRZbcU
