ARU Settings
Download the "Song Meter Configurator" app to your iPhone or Android.
The initial screen looks like this and will allow you to add a new Wildlife Acoustics recorder or allow you to see any that have already been configured.
Once configured, you will see a list of ARU's in the screen. If you are within 20 feet of the ARU you can click on the "status" icon to see the current status of that ARU.
If you open the lid of the ARU and press the "pair" button, the Song Meter Configurator software on your phone will display a "pair" button.
If you select the "Status" icon you will see this screen, which tells you various information about the status of the recorder.
If the recorder is recording, you will see at least one "recording", which is a good indicator that it is working without having to open up the lit and looking at the status lights (of which the recording LED will be blinking green if it is recording).
If you select the "Configure" icon from the main screen, you will see this screen. This is where you set important acoustics settings, especially the following.
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When you first click on the "configure" button the device will ask you if you want to set the location and time based on your cell phone's setting. Select yes, or set them yourself.
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We record such that each 60 minute .wav file starts at the top of the hour. So, select "Delay Start" and pick the next day from today.
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Make sure the "record birds/frogs 24 hours a day" is selected, which is NOT the default like you see in this screen.
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You can also select the "Utilities" icon and then format the SD card so that it is blank.
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Select the "Acoustic Settings" and use the settings in the below screen.
Once you select the "Acoustics Settings" in the previous screen you will see these settings.
- Set the "Sample Rate" to 22050 hertz. This allows us to capture 11,000 hertz which is the maximum range of most species in Yellowstone.
- Set the "Maximum Recording Length" to 60 Minutes.
- Set the "Channel" to Stereo which will use both mics and catch sounds from both sides of the recorder. In order to save battery life, you can switch to the right or left channel but point that mic in the direction you are likely to get vocalizations. Both mics result in about 1 month of battery life (and double the SD storage). One mic results in 2 months of battery life, which can be useful in some situations.
- Set the left and right channel gain to 12 decibels.
Yellowstone Observations App
Download the Microsoft "Power Apps" or "Power Apps for Business" app to your iPhone (or iPad) and Android device.
When you open the Power Apps app on your phone, you will be asked to "Sign In". Contact jeff@reedfly.com to get the username and password necessary to log on.
One you are logged on, at the bottom of the Home Screen, select the "All Apps" icon and you will be presented with a list of applications. Select the "Yellowstone Observations" app with the wolf track logo.
Once you select the "Yellowstone Observations" app you will be presented with this screen. It will list the last 100 observations sorted by lasted entered. An icon of a globe is at the top which will tell you if you are connected to the Internet or not. If you are not connected, your observations will not be loaded in to the database for others to see until you connect to the Internet.
You can either select and observation in the list and view its data (and then edit it) OR you can add a new entry by selecting the + icon in the top right.
If you select an observation in the list (in the previous screen) you will see its details, along with a map of where the observation was made (scroll down to see the map).
You can also choose to edit the observation by clicking on the pencil icon in the top right.
If you select the + (add new observation) icon on the screen with a list of observations, you will be taken to this screen where you enter a new observation.
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The current date/time and your current latitude and longitude (based on your cell phone) will automatically be populated.
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Select the primary species you are observing (you can enter secondary species in the Notes field).
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Select yourself from the list in the "Observed By" drop-down.
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Then enter your notes by selecting the box and either typing in your notes or using your phones speech-to-text icon to dictate your notes.
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Lastly, if you have a video (or still picture), scroll down to the Video File Name field and IF you used a DSLR then enter the file name of the recording, OR IF you recorded a video on your cell phone, then click on the + icon and select the video file from our phone and the file name will be entered in to the field. To upload the actual video to the database, use the Azure Storage Explorer tool as defined in the next section, and once logged in, go to the "videos" folder in the "reedflystorage" container and upload your file (file names must be unique).
To view all observations in the database, use the web app at the top of this page (contact jeff@reedfly.com) to get logon credentials. From the app you can select the species, data range, and observer to narrow down to the scope of observations. You can then select an observation from the list on the right, as well select the video file of that observation. You can then compare these observations to actual audio recordings from the ARU's in that vicinity. Below is a screen show of the web app showing one observations. You can also export the list of observations to a .csv file.
Download All Recording Data
Download Azure Storage Explorer from here.
Then, you’ll need to open it and click on “Sign in with Azure”. Contact jeff@reedfly.com to receive credentials.
There is a blob container (aka "folder") called “recorders/yellowstone/arus” and then each folder under that is the name of a location where the recorder was deployed. These folders hold ALL of the 24x7 one hour recordings (22050hz sample rate, two mics, 12db gain). The file naming convention is "recorder name" followed "yearmonthday" and then "hourminutesecond" of when that file started recording (and continued for the next hour).
There is another blob container called “vocalizations/wolves” which has the audio clips of actual wolf vocalizations that were hand annotated from the previous set of recordings”. Because this is a "clip" from the original one hour recording, the file name will only tell you the hour within which that clip occurred.
