WEST Senior Biologists Kirsten Pearson, Nick Bartok, and John Lloyd, and Statistician Jared Swenson co-authored a recently published research article with Nathan Mayer and Karl Kosciuch titled, “Evaluation of Drones as a Tool for Multi-species Nest Surveys on Linear Rights-of-Way,” in the Wildlife Society Bulletin.
This research explores how uncrewed aerial systems (drones) compared to standard ground-based nest surveys in both efficacy and efficiency when conducting multispecies avian nest surveys on active pipelines in Alberta.
“This work addresses a knowledge gap in wildlife management by rigorously testing emerging technology in a real-world, compliance-driven context. Our findings highlight the value of drones as a scientifically robust and scalable complement to traditional surveys, with the ability to improve efficiency, safety, and decision-making in avian monitoring and right-of-way management. We are excited to see this research completed along with our partners at Global Raymac, TC Energy, and IPL.” – Kirsten Pearson
