AI Wildlife Innovation: Surveying Pacific Black Brant from the Sky [Video]

Experience the future of wildlife monitoring at Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, where innovative technology meets conservation science. Get a birds-eye view of how our Migratory Bird Management team uses artificial intelligence and aerial photography to survey an incredible annual gathering – when nearly the entire population of Pacific Black Brant converges at Izembek Lagoon. This new approach doesn’t just count birds more accurately; it represents a breakthrough in wildlife survey methods that improves data quality while reducing disturbance to the birds and increasing safety for our aerial survey teams.

Learn more about our wildlife conservation work: https://www.fws.gov/project/fall-brant-photo-survey

Video footage: Zak Pohlen/USFWS
Editing: Lisa Hupp/USFWS
Close-up video footage of brant courtesy of Gerrit Vyn, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Audio described version: https://youtu.be/MSu1sAaMK1E

https://www.fws.gov

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the oldest federal conservation agency, tracing its lineage back to 1871, and the only agency in the federal government whose primary responsibility is management of fish and wildlife for the American public. The Service helps ensure a healthy environment for people by providing opportunities for Americans to enjoy the outdoors and our shared natural heritage.

We manage the National Wildlife Refuge System with more than 560 National Wildlife Refuges as well as small wetlands and other special management areas encompassing more than 150 million acres. Under the Fisheries program we also operate over 70 National Fish Hatcheries and 65 fishery resource offices. The Ecological Services program has 86 field stations across all 50 states.

The vast majority of fish and wildlife habitat is on non-federal lands. Voluntary habitat protection and restoration programs like the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and the Coastal Program and other partnership programs are the primary ways we deliver habitat conservation on public and private lands.

The Service employs approximately 9,000 people at facilities across the U.S. The Service is a decentralized organization with a headquarters office in Washington, D.C., with regional and field offices across the country. Our organizational chart shows structure and also provides information on senior management.