A Cacophony of Signals: Woodpecker Sexbots, Squirrel NORAD, and Other Robotic Systems

This article discusses the author’s robotic artworks, which consider the human-made body's future as a willful entity and the nature of communication. The robots use computer vision or sound signal processing to search the world for the signals of target species and then attempt to respond through similar gestural and audible signalling. The robots are trying to communicate with the animals and, in part, allow human communion with those animals in ways that human bodies and umwelts don't allow. That human narrative stamps itself heavily onto the projects is confirmed by these becoming things like a hermaphroditic sexbot for Pileated Woodpeckers and a NORAD equivalent for Grey Squirrels.

Chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera and Ischnocera) infesting woodpeckers and sapsuckers (Aves: Piciformes: Picidae) in Manitoba, Canada

Five species of woodpeckers (Piciformes: Picidae) in Manitoba, Canada were examined for chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera and Ischnocera): downy woodpecker (DOWO) (Picoides pubescens (Linnaeus), n=56), hairy woodpecker (HAWO) (Picoides villosus (Linnaeus), n=32), pileated woodpecker (PIWO) (Dryocopus pileatus (Linnaeus), n=12), northern flicker (NOFL) (Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus), n=223), and yellow-bellied sapsucker (YBSA) (Sphyrapicus varius (Linnaeus), n=192). Seven species of lice were collected (total number=40 613): Menacanthus pici (Denny) from all species of woodpeckers, Brueelia straminea (Denny) from both species of Picoides Lacépède, Penenirmus jungens (Kellogg) from northern flicker, Penenirmus auritus (Scopoli) from all species of woodpeckers examined except northern flickers, Picicola porisma Dalgleish from northern flickers, Picicola snodgrassi (Kellogg) from both species of Picoides, and Picicola marginatulus (Harrison) from pileated woodpeckers. Prevalence for total louse infestation ranged from 32.3% to 85.7% (NOFL>YBSA>PIWO>DOWO>HAWO). Mean intensity for total lice ranged from 29.2 to 232.4 (PIWO>NOFL>HAWO>YBSA>DOWO). Infestation parameters for each louse/host combination are provided. Distribution of louse infestations was highly aggregated. In all louse/host combinations, either females were more prevalent than males or there was no significant deviation from 50:50. There was a tendency for louse species to co-occur on the same host specimen.

Occupancy Modeling of Woodpeckers: Maximizing Detections for Multiple Species With Multiple Spatial Scales

Numerous forest birds benefit from woodpecker presence or have similar habitat requirements. Monitoring populations of forest woodpeckers can be useful for management decisions regarding these and other forest species. Usefulness of monitoring efforts depends on methods used and the quality of resulting parameter estimates. Estimating the proportion of area occupied by a species can be an attractive and affordable alternative to abundance or survival estimates. The purpose of this study was to assess the distribution and area of occupancy for pileated woodpeckers (Drycopus pileatus) and American three-toed woodpeckers (Picoides dorsalis) in north-central Idaho, and to compare occupancy estimates using silent point counts, playback surveys, and playback surveys that incorporated estimates of detection probability (p). We used a hierarchical multiscale framework that allowed estimation of occupancy at two spatial scales and applied a removal design such that repeat visits to sampling stations was not necessary to estimate p. The initial naïve estimate of occupancy (using presence–absence data) for pileated woodpecker was 0.39, which increased to 0.59 using playback surveys. The corrected estimate of occupancy at the 1-km2 unit scale was 0.70. The naïve estimates of occupancy for American three-toed woodpeckers using silent point counts and playback surveys were 0.14 and 0.34, respectively. The unbiased estimate of occupancy at the 1-km2 unit scale was 0.71. Detection probabilities are known to vary spatially and temporally for numerous reasons. Thus, comparisons of naïve estimates of occupancy to monitor forest woodpeckers would be imprudent and could lead to poor management decisions. We recommend incorporating detection probability for monitoring wildlife species and show how this can be done within a single sampling framework for species that utilize the landscape at disparate scales.

Introduction

In the house that seems embarrassingly large and mostly empty now that our children are grown and have children of their own, there is a screened-in porch adjacent to the family room on the second floor. When my wife and I sit on this porch during the summer, after the leaves on the old growth trees in our back yard open and many varieties of birds magically appear, it seems, for a moment at least, that all is right with the world. Laurel oaks and Virginia pines tower over a landscape covered in a canopy of intense green leaves, and members of two families of gray squirrels perform acrobatic feats in the maze of limbs and branches. American goldfinch with bright yellow bodies and black wings, northern cardinals with red bodies and orange bills, and pileated woodpeckers with large red crests and moustaches are frequent visitors. After evening comes and the sky begins to grow dark, the magical mystery tour continues as deer and the occasional lone fox or coyote pass through the thick foliage in the woods behind the house. But when we sat on this porch during the summer of 2010, it was not possible to feel even for a moment that all was right with the world. The outside temperature was oppressively hot for most of the day, and there were record-breaking heat waves across the United States, Europe, and Asia. The temperature in South Central Pakistan in May was the highest ever recorded in Asia, 128 degrees Fahrenheit, and the average temperature in Moscow in July was an unprecedented 100 degrees Fahrenheit. In August, scientists at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said that research based on enhanced climate models indicated that global warming was responsible for these much higher than average temperatures. The scientists at WMO also concluded that higher temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean and atmospheric anomalies caused by a La Nina created conditions that resulted in the severe draught in Russia, the flooding and mudslides in western China, and the floods that inundated about one-fifth of the landmass in Pakistan.