Deployment SIte Two - Summary of Month

This site has now had a month of deployment and the decision has been made to move the unit to depolyment site one.

In summary - the profile was the present standard profile: Daytime is a regular stoat call.   The nighttime profile cycles between five different basic sounds: the same stoat call that is used during the day, two possum calls and two baby chick/bird calls.    The purpose of the trial is to test the unit, the power status and see if it can have a basic effectiveness.   Some of the sounds have not been professionally recorded and were located as freely available youtube recordings.   These remain an area of significant targetting and improvement in the future.

Battery Power/Solar Charging of Unit: At present this unit has been charged in a solar power context only for a calendar month there was no additional boosting through a mains power system.   The unit has been delibrately placed in a position of full sunlight.  As a consequence the unit was nearly successfull.   It was able to operate on full power during the day and had enough charge generated to last most of the hours of darkness - there was some struggle to power the unti through a full cycle in the morning, but with the first daybreak the unit was then able to operate as expected.   In a shaded situation the unit would require 'boost' charging to alow it to operate fully.   Significant changes can be made to the frequency of the sound emitting, such as a the timing between bursts and the frequency - this was intended to 'push' the unit in a trial situation and it did exactly that.

Weather Exposure: The unit was placed inside a tunnel trap, and further inside PLA Plastic (3D Printed) boxes.   There was also a moisture packet placed inside the box.   These precautions were enough to ensure that no moisture combined with the unit for the month. 

Pest Interaction with Sound Lure/Trap at Location: There was repeated activity with hedgehogs at the site, including two who attempted to enter the tunnel and were trapped as a result,   The tunnel was next to a maize paddock so we were expected rats or mice (hence the trap) which did not eventuate.   There was no other recorded activity with the exception of domestic cats.   There are possums operating in the general area.

Deployment Site Two - Pest Activation

Please note: This post is intended as a discussion point about the sound lure project and what is happening at the site.  In New Zealand Hedgehogs are considered an introduced pest.

There have been several activations at this site for the past few days.   When the trap was cleared two days ago a large Hedgehog had been trapped in the confines of the trap.   The set up was intended to prevent this, as it is a tunnel trap to target small mustleids and rats, however the hedgehog in this instance had managed to enter the tunnel aspect of the trap and by reaching forward with its head activate the trap.  This trap has a sound lure operating in the tunnel and a secondary bait of peanut butter which is now two weeks old.    There is clearly in the photograph from the tracking camera a second hedgehog shown in the top left of the photograph.

The trap was subsequently cleared and reset.   The following night a similar activation of the trap from another large Hedgehog which was also disposed of. 

In both instances the trap has been set well back from the tunnel entrance but the inclusion of the sound lure in the back of the trap has moved the trap forward, allowing the Hedgehog access to it from the front.     There are currently no specific Hedgehog traps in New Zealand.   The trap has been reset again, with the same bait set up, locations and details as before.

Deployment SIte Two - Explanation of Site/Problem Solving

This video is a visual description showing Site Two for the camera deployment trial.  The intention is to show the area which it is being deployed in.   The purpose of this location is to put the unit under continued conditions outside to measure its viability.

Issues that we are associating with this location (two week summary):

• Powering Up the Unit - this unit is being run by the solar panel that is shown above on the box.   We have increased the size of the Lipo Battery and are monitoring and measuring.  We are monitoring the power level generated by the solar power, the intention has always been for the unit to charge during the day and play during the night and then continue the cycle.  This is an ongoing issue with the unit that we are attempting to resolve, and will involve considerable more testing, deveoping and prototyping.
• Morning Dew - there is already (it is the middle of summer) evidence of morning dew that is present on the solar panel, and it is accurring on the panel during darkness.   One of the issues moving forward would be protecting the electronic circuits from moisture, the early versions of our unit with 3D Printing have not had the ability to drain away moisture.
• Pests that are in the area - we have recorded Hedgehogs at this location and (domestic) cats which appear to be interacting with the sound lure although not attempting to  enter the box, which has been baited with peanut butter.   

Sound Lure Delpoyment: Site Two - Week Two Update

Week Two Deployment at Site Two:
2nd Week of January (Summer).   Two significant amounts of rainfall during this time the second was 14mm.   Precautions had been taken with this trap being placed inside the wooden box, as explained in the video on this blog.   This was able to provide ample protection for the sound lure which was not affected by the rain.

The activations that have occurred as shown are

 a series of photographs involving hedgehogs at the location, and a domestic cat.  There are other activations of a similar nature, in addition there is also a trap activation.

Sound Lure Deployment: Site Two - One Week Update

 Rationale:
This site has been selected to run indefinitely with the existing electronic sound lure set up.   This sound lure has been placed inside a small tunnel trap, with the solar panel at the back of the trap, the electronics are inside a 3D Printed box, which is located inside the wooden structure.

This trap has been baited with peanut butter only - and other than the sound lure has no additional bait.    Its location is detailed in a video on this

blog.    In the course of the week of deployment there has been one significant rainfall which was of 6mm on the second night.

After a week of deployment the sound lure is operating successfully in a charge situation. 

In the week to date there has been one activation of the trap, which was not supported by camera footage and there was no additional evidence in the trap.   There has been activations in the area as shown by the photographs - the two shown here show a domestic cat and hedgehog neither of which interacted with the trap itself but were in the vicinity.

Sound Lure: Deployment Site One (Phase One/Two) - Kaupokonui River

November 2019 - a possum interacting with the lure

Location: Banks of Kaupokonui River, South Taranaki.
General Description of Area: This site is located next to a significant local South Taranaki River.   This is adjacent to an active and major Dairy Factory Land, with a maize in the area. 
Background/Details: The site had a tracking camera placed on it in October 2019 as a test site to monitor the level of pest activity in the area.   The site was originally baited with rabbit meat.  This produced a number of activations of rats, hedgehogs, domestic cats and dogs.   Following the creation of the deployable prototype of the sound lure it was first deployed at this site.   This site was regularly accessed

Following its use there was a considerable increase in the amount of pest activity that was evidenced.   In addition to having rats and cats interacting with the lure for the first time possums began appearing at the tree where the lure was located.   They were seen climbing the tree or interacting directly with the lure.   This location was problematic in some ways - as a shaded location with the phase one set up it required the lipo battery to receive a boost to ensure that it worked consistently.  This required its retrieval each night. 

Left:
Site shown at start of deployment with (left to right) a chew card on tree, chicken wire cage which held the initial rabbit meat, the sound lure was placed at the base of the tree or at the base of the tree and to the right.

There is a domestic cat in this photo inteacting wtih the sound lure.   This cat was a regular visitor to the site. 

The images that are shown left represent some of the interactions that occurred on the tree with the sound lure in November and the start of December 2019.   This large rat appeared on the first night of sound lure deployment.  It repeatedly came back to the tree and interacted with the lure.

This possum was the first to interact with the tree, in the prior month, when the rabbit meat had been the only bait there was no evidence (photographic) of possum activity on this tree. 

Following the sound lure deployment it became a regular incident and the possum was repeatedly interacting with the tree.   This possum spent twenty minutes interacting with this tree.

This possum, which is not the same as the photograph series from above shows a brush tailed possum interacting not with a tree but with the sound lure itself.   This possum attempted to open the box where the sound lure was.  All of the images in this sequence are from November 2019.

2019 Sound Lure Prototype Explanation Videos

These videos explain the electronics behind the 2019 Sound Lure Prototype - these have been put on Youtube and are designed to be a basic explanation of how the 'phase one' prototype of the Sound Lure works.

The second video demonstrates how the 3D Printed boxes created by students in the classroom have
been integrated into the project.




To clarify the sounds that are used in this project in the first phase. The day profile or sound is of a basic stoat chatter. Originally when researching this project we engineered the sound lure to switch on at night only.

We realised when reviewing trail camera footage as part of the Curious Minds 'Whio Forvever' project that Stoats were active during the day. When discussing this with experts we were advised that stoats are likely to attack duing the day if Ferrets and Cats are present.

Subsequently we altered the sound profile to produce a 'stoat chatter' sound during the day at one minute intervals. For the night profile we used five basic sounds for the lure. Two of these sounds were generic chick sounds, two were possum sounds and the fifth was the stoat sound. With more time available (as it is in 2020) we intent to completely revise, test and replace these sounds. By using the technology set up that we have present we are uable to have a virtual unlimited (only by the sound card) array of sounds that can be played either randomly or at specific light level times.

Sound Lure Project - Summary of 2019

The project stared during the 2019 Calendar Year.  Much of the detail of the project is contained within the 'Auro Rangers/Innovator Slideshow'.   This slide show details the start of the project and its development from a basic school project into the 123 Tech Competition Entry.  As the project began to progress it was obvious that the project would evolve further from this competition and also involve more specific work and information.

Above: Domestic Cat interacting with sound lure box. November 2019

In November 2019 the first of five units were deployed in the South Taranaki Area.   One unit was deployed at a river location, (location one) which had previously been monitored by a tracking camera.   When the sound lure was deployed at the site there was significant increase in the amount of pest animals that visited the site, including possums who had not previously been present.

One of the five lures was significantly damaged by water as a result of a significant amount of rainfall in November (60mm was recorded) that pooled in the storage box and caused the computer to stop working, another was held over for testing.   Three remained deployed and in use to test their effectiveness, robustness and viability.

Above: Possum climbing tree with sound lure November 2019

Location one showed significant evidence of pest species interacting with the lure.   The lure was in a shaded location, requiring the 'boosting' of the battery every three or so days.  This is being detailed in a separate post. 

Location two (first phase) was on a local farm belonging to one of the students - this was located on Rama Road.  At this site there was increased feral cat activity relating to the lure which had not previously been detected.  The first phase of deployment ended with the conclusion of the 2019 School Year and the 123 Tech Awards National Finals.  At that point the remaining lures were collected in and retired for the end of the school year.   Of the five units that were used in phase one, four of them were still working as of December 2019.       

The students had presented at Kapuni Fonterra during the school year, as a result of this the project was able to source an additional ten sound lure units to be deployed.   The intention at this stage (January 2020) is to deploy half of these units at New Plymouth Airport and half of these units at Lake Rotokare Reserve.

The start of phase two of the Sound Lure deployment will commence in January 2020 with a measured deployment at New Plymouth Airport.   These units will be deployed in conjunction with the New Plymouth Airport pest control program.