In Arabic, Zayda means prosperity and good fortune. This is what we want to ensure for the birds by developing the modular system to monitor their nesting behaviour. The system was developed with the help of?TAČR grant nr. TJ02000199?and can help studying the complex aspects of bird ecology, such as incubation behaviour, offspring rearing and predation risk, but can also help bird keepers and bird breeders.
Developed modules can be used for easy logging of the nest attendance (RFID module), logging of the temperature and humidity inside and around the nest (THM module) and warn the researchers / breeders about the subtle, yet important changes in the breeding conditions. This can be done using the optional GSM module, which sends these priceless data through the mobile network to a dedicated server, and then straight to your personal computer. In case of unexpected circumstances, such as un-welcomed visitors or natural calamity, Zayda can record a video (camera module), activated remotely or using a pre-programmed trigger sequence, set off based on particular combination of sensor inputs.
Combined with a comprehensive and easy to use software, even the broad audience can apply complex and well tuned methods, based on Hidden Markov Models, that can predict avian behaviour without the use of time and power-consuming video recoding, editing and evaluation. The use of distant logging and data transfer saves users the trouble of frequent visits, battery changes and data downloads, while ultimately reducing the financial costs and disturbance of the wild-living animals. As such, the use is not limited to the monitoring of bird nesting behaviour, but the system can easily be used to monitor different animals as well. The modularity of the system also opens up a possibility to develop new modules for special applications.